Social Media Backdoors to Crime Networks
by Philip Glenister tomboy
Summary: DCI Gene Hunt is involved with investigating historical underage use of Social Media by his two distant teenage nieces from Elaine Downing's side of the family after he learns out of the blue that it started since 2010 when Millie and Charlotte were nearly 5 and 8 at the time. Does it seem they're following in their elderly mother's footsteps? My modern take on series 3, episode 2!
1. Who is Millie Hunt?

_Chapter #1: Who is Millie Louise Hunt?_

**DCI Gene Hunt learns out of the blue that Elaine's elder daughter Millie has been on Twitter since she was 8 years old in 2010; he is not impressed at the safeguarding implications that wait for the three children his distant niece had, not long after in her teenage years. Already she has sold herself as a chav prositute, modelling for some dodgy Internet companies, selling herself to any random men or celebrities and the only link to Gene is the blue eyes and some old 2011 photographs of when he used to take Millie to the Nutcracker Suite Ballet and 2013's Mamma Mia tea party in London. Gene has since then refused to have anything to do with his distant relatives; as he's worried that it would mean having to face that unhinged elderly woman again. He once investigated Elaine Downing when getting his beloved female colleague DI Alex Drake to enter the remaining Cresent Moon Dating Agency branches undercover. My modern take on what happened since Series 3 episode 2 of BBC Ashes to Ashes. **

**Rated M for freakish behaviour, stalking, social media references, non con, the chav mum look and broken family units.**

* * *

Elaine Downing discussed why it was that Gene never spoke to her elder daughter Millie on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, seeing as she's a distant niece of his; talk turned to her engineering a friend request on the three main social media programs. DCI Gene Hunt stormed off after an Instagram gag done by Millie at the time and then threw his hands up in disbelief at the whole thing that dated back to 2010; when she was only eight years old.

"Elaine, you do know I've never been happy about you letting your daughters on Social Media, your youngest Charlotte was only turning 5!" fumed DCI Gene Hunt in a booming voice over his office landline telephone behind the door with the blind shut "Don't tell me Millie's already got three kids? She's 17 years old for God's sake, now a chav on some rough London council estate; told you stupid woman, I did persuade you were far too old to be having kids in 2002 and 2005 respectively!"

"Oh, what did you expect? I'm too old to keep tabs on their social media and my little girls are of a completely different generation, Gene." the old greying blonde haired woman replied over the sleek office style landline phone. "I've probably got 18 safeguarding forms now to fill in about this online!" snarled DCI Gene Hunt flabbergasted at how an ex actress and hooker, practically old enough to be his own mother could allow two then young children to be on social media, since 2010 at eight and nearly five years old.

DCI Gene Hunt returned to the main CID hall with a cheeky grin on before becoming serious in tone "I've got a safeguarding case on my distant relatives coming down on me like a ton of bricks and all you guys can do is bicker like bitchy girls over the IT resources and timeline boards. It stops today as the investigation either means my very young cousins living with my Mum or being taken into care. Thank you."

_Flashback to 2010: _

_Gene's first reaction on 8 year old Millie Louise Hunt accessing social media underage "I deleted the videos from YouTube plus Twitter and changed the password, so Millie has no access to her email, Twitter or YouTube until I settle the matter with her mum Elaine. I have also discovered she created a Skype account without my knowledge/consent, and this is now blocked too."_

_Elaine Downing was too relaxed with social media, at just 8 and nearly 5 years old Millie and Charlotte go to have Whatsapp and Snapchat not caring about the safeguarding implications; this has for DCI Gene Hunt's distant nieces especially as they're both of primary school age. The police officer who has been in the job since 1990 at age 19 years old was right about these poor little girls having a mum clearly old enough to be their grandmother will certainly mess up their childhoods. The four, nearly five decade gap meant Elaine Dowling couldn't be bothered to monitor what her daughters were doing on the Internet._

"I remember having to take my distant nieces to primary school, a few times in the playground most mornings Elaine's dear children were at because she was too fucking knackered to deal with two young children. I wonder why? Yeah the years of booze and fags." DCI Gene Hunt briefed everyone in the main CID pool "she is old enough to be my mum, yet has two children born in 2002 and 2005! No wonder Millie and Charlotte as my distant nieces are now so messed up."

DI Alex Drake gave the answer of "an ageing former actress and ex prostitute was in something with whatsisface in the Flying Squad and did a cheesy single for _Minder_ with a now washed up 70s ex Metropolitan Police CID officer." DCI Gene Hunt found that Elaine was the nauseating one who lived upstairs from wotsername and thingy in old _Top Gear_. The few years, Elaine Downing came out of retirement was 2011, 2012, 2014 in a few _X-Men_ movies; along with two medical dramas; _Casualty_ and _Doctors_ and the last credit in 2017 as a now elderly woman. Even after all these decades she is still calculating, nasty and snobby.

"There's a sequence, a pattern, we just haven't found it yet." said DC Chris Skelton at his laptop "Why did no one notice there were social media accounts opened for an eight year old girl in 2010? Surely it should have raised alarm bells by the primary school your distant nieces went to. Especially as their mother is an ancient hooker and retired actress who used to live in Essex, decades ago pre 1975." Gene can recall his elder niece opening a Mandy account for as a cover for much older men, especially if they were celebrities, musicians, were very rough with tattoos or just chavs. So he screengrabs all of niece Millie Hunt's tweets since 2010 to be printed off. Are Gene's distant nieces following in the footsteps of their decrepit and horribly ageing mother? It would seem so.

DCI Gene Hunt is given intelligence by someone who personally knew Elaine Downing as an older mum "I used to see her at toddlers thing and I could never work out why someone of that life stage was still parenting babies and toddlers as she should be about late 60s or early 70s by now; surely? It's selfish!"

"How were her two children like at the playgroup you ran?" asked DI Alex Drake who hoped to gain an psychological insight into Elaine Downing as one of the older mums who used to attend the Little Teddy Bears playgroup until Charlotte turned five in 2010.

"Very middle class on the outside, but she hid narc tendencies well around Millie and Charlotte because she was devastated over the failure of her first marriage, she feared loneliness in old age, and was hoping for a fresh start with little girls born on a two and a half or three year age gap; before menopause kicked in." said the Little Teddy Bears playgroup director. "Their much younger biological dad just focused on his acting career, so didn't have much to do with the hideous old crone; thank god."

Meanwhile the rest of London Metropolitan Police CID are on their computers doing research into Elaine Downing's past:

_Elaine Jane Downing_

_DOB: 31 March 1953_

_Elaine Downing nee Goddard (maiden name) grew up in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. It is a seaside resort that saw a peak of tourists in the summer months between the 1950s and 1970s._

_She was a regular at the Butlins holiday camp during her childhood; that had been open until 1983 (now redeveloped into a housing estate, due to changing holiday tastes)._

_The big headline for her generation was: In 1964 the town was in the national news when rival gangs of Mods and Rockers fought on the sea front and several arrests were made. (In mid-60s youth culture, 'Mods' favoured scooters and wore parkas, while 'rockers' rode motorcycles and wore leather and denim. The incident became known locally as 'The Battle of Pier Gap' following a headline in the local paper, the East Essex Gazette). Throughout the 1960s Clacton beach remained a popular summer excursion for residents of Essex and east London and in August was often crammed to capacity in the area around the Pier._

_Since_ t_he 1970s, the holiday industry in Essex began to decline. Increasingly, hotels' and guest-houses' spare capacity came to be used as 'temporary' accommodation by the local authority to house those on welfare, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Pier Ward, in the centre of the town, is one of the poorest in the UK; (nearby Jaywick is often cited as the poorest of all)._

_Her first school was St Thomas Primary School until 11 years old in Brentwood, Essex. Founded in _1835,_ a penny school until relocated to Sawyers Hall Lane in 1967-1968 opened by the Duchess of Kent, Princess Margaret. In 2008, the primary school had a 40th anniversary._

_Clacton County High School, from 1964 - 1969._

_The Crescent Moon Dating Agency._

_Founded by Elaine Downing in 1983 - 1989._

_In the Eighties was living _in _Sidcup, Greater London (nicknamed _ _"the armpit of England"_)_ and was well known then apart from the Fenchurch East area._

_Mrs. Downing used to set up new branches, got them up and running, then franchised them out. The dating agency offices were in_ _Hoxton, Bristol, Sheffield, Norwich, Fenchurch East and Newcastle._

_A Butlins red coat (1969 - 1975)_

_The first career outside of her hometown of Clacton-on-Sea was journalist for the Evening Standard for three years (1980-1983). Fired for being__ unscrupulous towards serving Flying Squad (CID) officers in London Metropolitan Police and had a personal relationship with a Detective Sergeant, about three to eight years previously (1975-1979?)._

Not averse to a bit of GBH, one classic being towards a 12 year old boy; Mrs. Downing quoted in a police interview: "_one day I hit him over the head with a chair, after I gave him a smack on the legs because he was being a naughty boy in my daughters secondary school. Miss Todd that judgmental twat of a French teacher decided to call in Social Services, stupid modern foreign language teaching bitch who knows nothing about how to discipline children!" _However she will never regret her violent past towards children which on several occasions raised a safeguarding concern over the years to DCI Gene Hunt's team even when they were based in Greater Manchester Police CID. After the reading of her profile, it was telling that she originally came from a rough area before she went all middle class in her later years.

"Oh, Eugene why are you wearing jeans with your lovely suits and collar shirts?" Elaine Downing says in her classic snippy posh London accent and tuts at the Detective Chief Inspector like an irritating mother in law "You're 48 years old now and still have that bloody mullet of yours! So all you need to do is fill out this form so that I can for once learn some of your likes and dislikes!"

"No change there, then Elaine." Gene tried to ensure he didn't feel vulnerable around the elderly mother of his two distant now teenage nieces, now that he was an adult, there had been another raid on Elaine Downing's agency years previously in 1983; but he was only twelve years old at the time and was powerless to do anything about this now geriatric woman.

"I'll then circulate your details to my ex husband, former Detective Sargeant Alan Burnside; if you dare take the grandchildren, your distant cousins, by the way to your mother's!" she yells in DCI Gene Hunt's office "You still don't know how I like my carrots, whenever I have a roast dinner at your mother's!" arguing heatedly with the adult CID policeman Elaine last saw as a 12 year old.

"It's a police investigation." DCI Gene Hunt stated calmly "Either cooperate with the investigation into your children's historical underage social media use or we can discuss this in Interview after I caution you."

* * *

**Elaine Downing had an obsession with one of Gene's female colleagues, once in another fanfic on BBC Ashes to Ashes "Cousin Alex" by Jazzola that she claimed Alex Drake was her daughters much older cousin in a sick way. The now elderly woman also allows very young children on Social Media being too old to understand the safeguarding implications which has led to DCI Gene Hunt investigating her children's historical underage social media usage before it affects another generation of young children as the teenage sisters kids are Gene's distant cousins. So this is a crucial case, me thinks for DCI Gene Hunt.**


	2. The Chain of Defense

**My visualisation of Elaine Downing is based on Philip Glenister's much older looking wife since this character is portrayed by ****Beth Goddard who still treats the Gene Genie like a child (even though he's been a police officer since the '80s or '90s) and which gave the CID team an enquiry about Gene Hunt's mother in law. This explains Hunt's defensive attitude to his mother in law,** **also suggests his relationship with Elaine since becoming a teenager wasn't a bed of roses and this may go some way to explaining some of his attitudes in the police station during the course of the series and in fanfic. Gene** **also shows that he deeply cares about the victims of crime, despite his mother in law troubles. Despite Elaine Downing being practically old enough to be his own mother** ** it's she that gets the hots for Gene (her young son in law) during the investigation and kisses him.**

* * *

_Chapter #2: The Chain of Defense. _

An elderly brother of Elaine has learning difficulties and now has dementia, so the Detective Chief Inspector agreed to help out this distant side of his family. Normally, he doesn't have much contact, apart from police investigations he has led on his mother in law regarding the remaining branches of her dating agency, Cresent Moon when she opened her first few branches since 1983-1988. In 1989 she moved away from the speed dating scene to pursue an acting career until retirement in the 2000s and a comeback in _Casualty_, _Doctors_, _New Tricks_ and _Holby City_ until 2017.

Gene had been investigating his nieces historical under age usage of social media much to the disinterest of the agencies former owner and their now elderly mother, Elaine Downing as he'd printed off the screencaps of all Millie and Charlotte Hunt's social media accounts; sending their laptops to be forensically investigated by Cybercrime, after disguising the search and seize as a screen time sanction for the younger 14 nearly 15 year old girl.

Millie Louise Hunt has been having babies since the age of 13, 14 and 15, giving Elaine Downing three grandchildren in quick succession, due to their behaviour being so screwed up, the eldest is now suspected to be on the autistic spectrum and neither seem to understand the word 'no'.

"because we make Jason Grant Hunt eat his dinner (all he has at home is McDonalds and Pot Noodles) and he's not allowed to stay up until 1am playing on Fortnite." said DCI Gene Hunt overseeing as PCSO Sharon Grainger, DI Alex Drake and senior DI Sam Tyler are writing down the snippets of Internet activity; CID had noted the following on the whiteboard timelines, and a few other officers photograph evidence and compile crime reports on MS Word.

_Also some serious issues with internet usage (no parental controls and allowed to use computers for many hours per day, totally unsupervised) dating since 2010 when Millie (then 8) and Charlotte (nearly 5) were allowed social media accounts starting with Twitter; eventually moving to Flickr (at 11 and 8), Instagram, Facebook and Mandy._

DCI Gene Hunt has been keeping a diary, typed into his Microsoft Word document for Social Services and kept all of his text message replies on the Downing side of his family:

_Millie even talks to older cousin Jason in a baby voice (and use baby nick-names). He's nearly 5 years old FGS, not one!_

_I understand the cousins are only acting as they are allowed to do at home by their 18 year old mum Millie, so not really their fault. I think the lack of boundaries/rules etc don't help._

_Elder niece Millie Louise Hunt, tends to opt for what keeps the kids quiet, as far as I can tell._

_They ask my parents Denise Louise Hunt and Stephen Hunt to have the kids so the girls can have "a break"._

_Eldest cousin has been in trouble at school recently (doing things but trying to blame it on others) and he's only nearly 5 in Reception Year with dangerous anger issues._

_Elaine's brother is a demented old man, which is clearly inappropiate and shows they don't effectively safeguard the cousins from their nana's brother._

As the senior Detective Inspector of his best friend DCI Gene Hunt's team, Sam Tyler is shocked by the revelations "This is just one more unacceptable episode in a whole series from your mother in law Elaine's family." scratching his jet black hair in front of the paperwork compiled on his eldest friend's cousins and nieces "their children will be just as bad, if not worse and will know that their teenage parents will undermine you. Well done for sticking to your guns, Guv."

"Millie then treated me to a lecture on child-rearing, and how I was expecting too much of her 'poor little baby' (by expecting him to do as he's told, to respect other people and their belongings etc)." replied DCI Gene Hunt throwing his darts at the board, the thud thud soothing fractured feelings "I admit to losing my temper somewhat and said that if I was that bad then I can't see why my nieces would leave their children with my mum's in the first place." as the red, yellow and blue darts hit a photo of Elaine Downing on the dartboard.

_I told Jason Grant Hunt __several times to stop harassing mum's cats (including pulling their tails) and have had to shut her dogs in the kitchen today as he will not stop tormenting them and I was worried one of them might snap (for the record, none of the dogs has ever bitten or even growled at anyone, it is just that I think even the best natured and most reliable dog can snap if put in the wrong situation)._

"Millie kept going on about 'he's too little to understand and he doesn't mean it, leave poor little Jason alone' when said that I felt that 5 is old enough to understand that you need to do as you are told by an adult." Gene took deep breaths sighing as he looked through the filing cabinets "I'd prefer it if we just left contact to essentials- such as to do with my parents etc- for now as I am so infuriated with them!" giving the leather swivel chair a small kick for good measure as the latest investigation on Elaine Downing regresses the handsomely beautiful Detective Chief Inspector back to an emotionally vulnerable teenager.

Elaine Downing and Gene are not close and don't get on. Very long backstory to it all. His mum agrees that they are taking the piss.

_They have broken several things in the house, t_hrough _utter carelessness._

_"_I admit I probably shouldn't have lost my temper, as this is one of many things I hate about my distant relatives..." admitted the Gene Genie as he drives his Ford Mondeo Titanium X through town to the eldest cousin's primary school St. Catherine's Infant and Junior School listening to _The Clash_ \- London's Calling; which is one of his favourite punk rock bands.

The Reception teacher, Amanda Luckhurst has given a statement about Millie Louise Hunt's five year old son, Jason Grant Hunt: _If the five year old Jason can manage rules at our school then he can do them at your house, DCI Eugene Hunt. Perhaps he doesn't behave at school with us!_

"Her poor little baby? Well she wants to teach him how to bloody behave, and do as he's told!" said a shocked Detective Inspector Alex Drake used to her boss's driving as Gene is in command of the wheel wearing his favourite _Sparco_ racing gloves in blue. "I presume your niece Millie's elder child is at school where he will have to do as he's told and follow rules? So not too young at all." in her posh London accent, as she came from a family of three successful lawyers being brought up in the 1980s and 1990s. "You did the right thing like Sam said, they were trying to bully you, Gene. 5 year olds can and should obey basic rules if taught."

Meanwhile at Metropolitan Police CID, DC Chris Skelton has a headache from dealing with more verbal abuse from his boss's now elderly mother in law during a recorded interview about Millie and Charlotte's historical underage use of social media "I hate to break it to you, Guv; but your mother in law really doesn't like you." he replied shyly in front of Gene in private "Elaine resents you and she feels a very strong sense of entitlement towards everything you have."

"So, Christopher, your idea is to make a list of excuses to use when my mother in law contacts me and keep it by the phone or text message?" asked DCI Gene Hunt awaiting an answer from the nearly 28 year old Detective Constable with jet black hair and blonde highlights.

"She sounds a nightmare, Guv. It's your rules; have them again but only if they obey your rules." Chris suggested to his Guv as a colleague and being one of the babies of the CID team, not knowing the history well and that this isn't a one off incident.

"Me dad does really want us to get on and can get quite annoyed with these situations. He also worries about dear nieces (as they're approaching adulthood almost), plus my very young cousins and feels if we can help them with some stability, we should." Gene launched into regaling Millie with the litany of bad behaviour over the last few days the moment she walked in the door, when he was asked to babysit his very young cousins. It happens often at family things where he can't avoid Elaine Downing's side of the family; there is a long and extremely nasty history to all of this.

"I also think you need to make it clear to your batty mother in law, Elaine that you are an independent adult who can make his own decisions as to which relationships you pursue." said Chris Skelton who knew that Gene's teenage nieces need to stop making excuses for Millie's children because if they don't knock this on the head now they're going to have a lot more serious problems in the future with them.

Gene's teenage nieces are grabby, manipulative and entitled twats and they have spoiled their young children. Children who set out to hurt animals are another kettle of fish and very frightening for the CID team, when they read the school portfolio for Jason Grant Hunt.

"I also remember that your older cousin was still in nappies a few months ago. Is this still the case? I'm wondering if there are either some additional needs there too (which might account for some of his behaviour), or if it's symptomatic of your niece Millie's tendency to baby him?" suggested senior DI Sam Tyler who is getting a uniformed colleague to cover processing Elaine Downing into the Custody suite.

* * *

**This is just some examples of the long and extremely nasty back story as to why DCI Gene Hunt doesn't get on with his mother in law Elaine Downing's side of his family and the reasons for his regressing into the emotionally vulnerable teenager he was, when his mother in law troubles first became apparent (during the year he was starting in Greater Manchester Police cadets aged 13 in 1986).**


	3. Dysfunctional Aspirations

_Chapter #3: Dysfunction of Aspirations._

**DCI Gene Hunt's mother in law Elaine Downing's family is very dysfunctional with a car crash of chaos hidden well by the respectable veneer. ****There is a real poverty of aspiration running through this whole story which is terrifying and desperately sad. He finds out on enquiries that the biological father of his elder niece Millie's three children already has an 19 year old stepson who already has a 3 year old and 2 year old, same age grouping as one of his very young cousins and seven others already in Social Services care, plus three more with Millie's ex boyfriend current girlfriend's.**

* * *

Millie Louise Hunt three children's father is known as an absolute shit in the Fenchurch East area, in addition to this long lost son he has 3 other kids that DCI Gene Hunt is running around after because his 18 year old niece can't be bothered to use contraception whenever she has sex.

Senior Detective Inspector Sam Tyler gets asking the Guv about his mother in law's dysfunctional side of the family "Elaine already has a long lost grandchild that is older than her younger husband's child, I can't believe you're having to investigate all this as part of Millie and Charlotte's historical underage use of Social Media as young children at the time!" he fumed through gritted white sparkling teeth in front of Gene's slim desktop computer on the desk "Please make sure your mother in law's lot don't bring any more poor kids into their mixed up family..." his right hand man putting in a plea so hopefully the Metropolitan Police CID doesn't have to find out what Elaine Downing as the Guv's mother in law has been up to with her disgraceful family again. "I bet your cousins dad is a man who has 7 children and doesn't care for any of them properly, Guv."

DC Chris Skelton knocks on the door of the plush office, to inform the Gene Genie about the style of motive fitting the patterns they've encountered in this case "Excuse me, Guv; I have a print out about the MOs for your mother in law's Elaine side of the family." waiting for DCI Gene Hunt to answer "Yes, what is it Christopher Skelton? Come on in."

"I thought I recognised your niece's ex boyfriend..." he replied cautiously in case the enquiry doesn't turn out to be correct "The one where all his exes are the crazy girls... I searched on various social media and printed out what was on them with the list of their names." Gene nods for him to continue at the desk "He has 5 or so children by 4 different women; he was chasing a 13 or 14 year old girlfriend when he was in his early 40s, in 2013."

The CID assignment today dated 17th January 2020 was with DCI Gene Hunt leading his team was reading the history as if they were Social Services giving the case against his mother in law Elaine Downing's family for historical underage Social Media usage from the social workers point of view in the dialogue.

"Social Services and our description of him is more realistic. Read them, pretending you're reading the social workers post." said DCI Gene Hunt wearing his best grey suit, yellow collared shirt, no tie and grey trousers with white stripes and brown leather boots "I know you are all thinking What the fuck..,this is worse than a Jeremy Kyle and Jerry Springer mash up." fiddling with the ends of his dark haired mullet "But I want this closure, so that none of my cousins can end up damaged by my decrepit mother in law and my nieces legacy, I want them banned from contact with children and vulnerable adults by tea-time preferably!" barked DCI Gene Hunt in the main CID area.

DS Dean Carling stops to ask "what kind of man in his 40's even looks at a teenager that way it's actually quite worrying." when they were in Greater Manchester Police they had to deal with Graham Bathurst who would prey on vulnerable teenage girls and murdered his own girlfriend "think he should have sorted his own kids out before he had 3 more with your niece Millie what a fucked up situation, that's all levels of wrong...like father like son though." It sounds like the 19 year old as Gene's step-nephew is following the example his father has set him, leave the picking up the pieces and running about kids to the women while he moves from one woman to another. However CID with their Guv Gene Hunt are focusing on trying to fix the trauma inflicted by Millie and Charlotte Hunt's historical underage use of Social Media before it damages his cousins generation.

Elaine Downing expects Gene to look after her other grandkids, doesn't support properly and/or doesn't see. It may be that he will tell the children's health visitor everything and ask for help especially as Jason Grant Hunt already is suspected to be autistic; sometimes behaviour from chaotic or abusive situations can mimic the look of autism. After the investigation is concluded; the kids of the Downing side of Gene's family will need intense counselling, life skills courses and various agencies support to try to help them lead relatively stable lives after all of this.

It won't be easy for CID but it is necessary and for Gene to get over his decades long fear of his mother in law Elaine Downing's family; unless the kids end up having the chaotic, fucked up future that this man's many other kids have.

"You wouldn't be able to trust my mum in law's lot around any other children or vulnerable people." said DCI Gene Hunt knowing something needs to change or the younger kids will end up in the same shit. "My mum voiced the exact same opinion that I was just a glorified Dad as I seem to do everything for her sister in law Elaine, since Millie and Charlotte were born." as he opens up the Craig Downing file, which had a detailed description of his step nephew's history on to the SMART interactive white board displayed via the projector.

_Craig Downing __was dumped on his nana as a baby in 2001 as his mum is incompetent - he has 7 half siblings in care_.

_Craig has 3 half siblings his dad had with Millie Louise Hunt._

_He went to live with his dad and dad's teen girlfriend Millie when he was 11._

_The dad and now step-mum have three children together._

_At 16 he fathers a child, same age as one of his younger half siblings._

_Rocky relationships._

_He gets his own place but is crap with money and gets in debt_.

_So now in 2020 at 19 years of age he has a new 16 yo girlfriend, a 2 year old with his 18 yo ex. 7 half-sibs in care, 3 half-sibs that presumably live with their mum(s), and three that live with his dad and Millie now a step-mum._

_"_I think I'd need therapy, never mind being able to support myself and pay rent on time, if I had such a family!" replied PCSO Sharon Grainger setting out the photographs on to the whiteboard "Millie's relationship just screams red flags. Obviously I don't know the full story but this guy is twice your niece Millie's age; when he must have been in his late 30s/early 40s."

Gene explains his point of view as he is the one that had to witness all this from Elaine Downing's lot as her young son in law "My mum doesn't like her sister in law as she's seen all the skivvying I did like a sole parent since I was 29 years old, sacrifising some of my youth."

"Your mum was absolutely right, Guv. He got himself a vulnerable young woman, barely an adult, so he could train your niece Millie to do the wife work." said DI Alex Drake writing on the whiteboard "Millie is now still very young with 3 small children and puts the responsibility for all this mess on your shoulders. I'm with your mum on this, Gene! Your step nephew at 19 needs professional counselling and guidance or this is going to be as good as it gets for him."

Millie Louise Hunt needs to have her independence as chances are she'll be on her own or living with a pensioner in 15 years and who will support her? The mind beggars belief.

* * *

**Will DCI Gene Hunt be able to fight his fears on his mother in law Elaine Downing for the sake of the CID investigation he's leading?**


	4. Confronting the Mother In Law

_Chapter_ _#4: Confronting the Mother In Law._

**Gene has to go back to Manchester to confront his mother in law Elaine Downing, his Mum remembers all the reasons why her son never seen much of her sister in law unless it was a police investigation and for DCI Hunt it brings back painful childhood memories from years ago; when another red flag crops up in the investigation that his 19 year old stepson Craig Downing is sharing a room with a three year old plus his teenage nieces Millie and Charlotte are known for inviting paedophilies into their elderly mother's side of the family.**

* * *

Detective Chief Inspector Gene Hunt is an unlikely sex symbol with millions of adoring female fans since being a Police Constable in 1990 after graduating the Greater Manchester Police Cadets; who has spent much of his childhood and young working life in Manchester, since being born in 1971. It's not all fun with his famous Ford Mondeo Titanium X and being the top police officer especially when his mother in law Elaine Downing's dysfunctional family crop up time and time again in CID investigations. He visits his mother in law Elaine for a Sunday roast dinner but comes across another situation which triggers old bad memories from years ago; when Gene feels like he has gone back to his own childhood, it is not for very memorable reasons.

"When he comes home from his jobs, Gene has to look after the grandchildren!" Elaine laughed loudly to Gene's parents and being an older mum to her two late life girls; Gene had to be his nieces main carer since Millie was four, and Charlotte, one; even though he is only the children's distant uncle, it is all just so wrong for the sexiest police officer ever to hail from Manchester "I'm begging him (my son in law) to get me a young toyboy in the next investigation! It would just so help with the grandchildren, being all together in Manchester. I'd love to do it, as long as I got it on my own merit!" she flirts with him at the dinner table.

"Stop it, mother in law, it's inappropiate." Gene has to face the choice between his step nephew and the younger children's welfare plus his mental health as he'd be no good for gaining closure on the investigation because there is only so much of the DCI to go around. Another red flag has been raised as he finds out his now 19 year old step nephew Craig Downing had been sharing a bedroom with a three year old half sibling; and there is implied paedophiles on Elaine's side of Gene's family who prey on vulnerable teenage women, to serve their dysfunctional dynamics.

"Gene will be taking the children into my house for police protection and leave the rest of your wretched family to sort themselves out, Elaine!" yelled the Gene Genie's mother in a posh Salford, Manchester voice while she was preparing the vegetables, roast potatoes and putting the chicken joint into the oven "You've used my police officer son, ever since Millie and Charlotte were born; and potentially now you've exposed my step grandchildren and my Genie's cousins to unhealthy dynamics!" yelled Mrs. Hunt who couldn't cope with Elaine Downing's snobby put downs any longer "You've pissed off in 2010 when your youngest was still a toddler and left me with the kids!" a few hours later Denise Louise Hunt plates up the Sunday roast for extended relatives as usual.

A three year old, Lewis Robert Hunt is blissfully unaware of the conversation occurring around the dinner table.

"This meant a 19 year old man sharing a room with a 3 year old over Christmas; so little Lewis was up and down all night like a yo-yo!" said Stephen Hunt angry about the whole thing as head of the Hunt family "and there is Craig's own daughter who I'm then left to sort after and feed..." forking up his chicken in the process with a bit of roast potato and vegetables "it's just not practical or fair on a 3 year old's sleep patterns and would not let him in the room of a 3 year old, what happens if he sneaks his ex back in?"

"If it wasn't for the fact your side of the family had younger children, then yeah I would have just left you to the fall out of Millie and Charlotte's historical underage use of Social Media to go with your shit lager." barked DCI Gene Hunt at his mother in law "Right, moving on: one of your elder daughter Millie's clients is a paedophile, the rest are losers and tossers." he has finally found a way to pull Elaine Downing up without him getting too riled up, unlike his very first investigation into his dodgy mother in law.

"My point is, I forbid you from hacking into my daughters Millie and Charlotte's social media! If you carry on with this farce, I will personally ring up your Detective Superintendent and warn him about you Genie, son in law." threatened Elaine Downing at 67-73 years old; who hadn't changed a bit since Gene was born in the early 1970s is still nasty, spiteful, calculating and cold after all these years.

"Your elder daughter's ex has got 7 kids in care, which is another bloody story!" Mrs. Hunt sternly pointed out "I've already had to look after 3 other stepchildren to think of whenever your Millie caused problems with her so-called men."

"Your Millie already has 2 toddlers and a baby at just 18 years old!" Gene grunted in a teenage like tone continuing to eat his roast dinner and just enjoy his Mum's cooking again as a treat.

"All they're guilty of is looking for love and baby dads." Elaine Downing calmly replied in her posh London accent knowing she isn't getting her own way.

"When these things happen, you as the older mum suddenly come in the scene trying to act the hero; living your fantasy life with them and you've put the girls biological dad off from seeing them in London, and he works long hours as an actor, maybe not in the same vein as my son Eugene, but it's still the small hours!" yelled Stephen Hunt furious with the whole dynamic "Your 19 year old step son has a daughter who's 2 or 3, same age as one of Millie's kids." then storms off to his Sudoku puzzles in front of the Drama channel. "Imagine how that feels for our Craig, having a step mum young enough to be your sister."

"Millie has got enough on her plate with 2 toddlers. One who is disabled in Year R with suspected autism as well as a baby on top." said Denise Louise Hunt taking away finished plates and serving dessert. Gene watches Elaine's familar mannerisms when answering her eldest daughter Millie's clients, just as Gene Hunt remembered the decrepit and elderly ex dating agency founder/actress.

"Elaine speaking, I normally e-mail your details to my elder daughter Millie as I normally would have send out a new client in my day." she said in a raspy tone of voice damaged by years of chain smoking Camel cigarettes and booze. "She'll phone back and then I'll tell her I'll forward the details on to you with passwords included." Elaine Downing's lines are all too familiar "It'll be your choice when and where you meet her."

Then Elaine speaks to another distant member of the family, namely Stu "...how nice to hear from you, Stu. Could you get your darling mother in law, a toyboy please? Yes, yes, I think I can remember the celebrity. Yes, I'll be only too happy Stu... mummy in law loves you!"

Elaine Downing tries to set up a date with her own son in law by text, the message on his gold Samsung Galaxy smartphone reads: _If you ever want a date, Jasmine Hunt xx Call me xxx love your mother in law Elaine xx_

Later on in the night at his mother's house in Salford, Gene has a private conversation with his Mum about the dynamics he's seen in her sister in law Elaine's side.

"This isn't about love, but something very serious, Mum." DCI Gene Hunt was trying to spare her feelings, even though he is an adult himself; Denise could see the confused teenager underneath six foot of rampant testosterone in a suit.

In an interview room in London Metropolitan Police's CID; Gene's busy recording the interview on to audio files to be downloaded on the London Metropolitan Police computer network afterwards for the Crown Prosecution Service to review.

"Well, I don't believe it all, Eugene. My side of the family are honest, they would not do things like this!" yelled Elaine Downing inside the interview suite at her DCI son in law and DI Alex Drake in their seats with Apple I-Pads each, laptops, legal ledgers, pens and cassette recorder.

"Lust, paedophilism, underage social media and filth. That's what you're selling, Elaine mother in law dearest."

"Nothing jumped out to you, did it, Elaine? No. What about the fact you allowed a then 8 and turning 5 year old on Social Media during 2010, ten years ago!" DI Alex Drake punctuated to prove her point as one of the safeguarding implications involved in this case.

"Look, I can't tell you how sorry I am that my side of Eugene's family has been involved in these terrible crimes." Elaine Downing smirked at Gene's beloved female Detective Inspector not caring that the crimes involved are very serious indeed.

* * *

**What will happen next for DCI Gene Hunt as more leads reveal themselves? **


	5. Thomas Hunt's Custodial Battle

_Chapter #5: __Thomas Hunt's Custodial Battle._

**Thomas Hunt is Gene's younger brother, born in 1986 and also a police officer like the Gene Genie. However the younger brother of Gene has trouble with his 12 year old boy Charlie which has emerged from a** **rough transition ****going up to secondary school; when the father of one noticed his ex wife hasn't made an effort to get him into school, but really it's because she can't be bothered to give guidance and parent. The nearly 34 year old man now needs Gene's help to get residency over to his name with full custodial rights, after an incident involving younger children is the last straw for Charlie's stepmum. This chapter is also written from Scarlett Hunt's point of view.**

* * *

Charlie Hunt has been aggressive towards his stepmum's seven year old son and eight year old daughter a lot, is quite cocky with people, cheeky to adults, swears, doesn't listen and is rude to his grandparents. He jumps about, puts his dirty hands on Scarlett Hunt's white walls and ceiling etc.

_Tonight, Tuesday was the last straw; he punched my eight year old daughter in the leg, just as my brother in law Thomas Hunt got him to leave_ _causing a huge scene for his parents Stephen and Denise __as it was really fraught. A_fter I collected them _he has scratched my little Rebecca o__n the hand and made it bleed profusely. Charlie then told me as his stepmum to fuck off when I told him off. I made all 4 children sit in my eyeline and was shaking with anger._

Scarlett Hunt was born on 26 May 1985 and has known Gene's younger brother for years; she had to phone him as he is a policeman like his older brother due to the situation escalating in severity as his 12 year old son was shouting and swearing; which was triggering for Scarlett as she left a physically abusive marriage, doesn't cope well with aggression and confrontation especially towards little kids. Sadly her brother in law's son was unable to articulate underlying anger into words.

She rings up her brother in law Thomas Hunt after texting him of the heated incident; he is on his way to collect Charlie from Scarlett's ushering the younger children back in the lounge for safety. "You better not have been playing cocky games with your stepmum's kids!" Thomas Hunt shouted to his stepson with such military precision. He tells Scarlett that it was down to his ex wife's poor parenting "What are you talking about, you little toerag?! Sit!" Thomas warned his 12 year old son Charlie sternly, but he tries to leave the lounge room "I'm sorry about all this, I blame his mum for not parenting my son properly and now this is the price of it. Anyway I'm going to apply to get residency of Charlie in my name, so he has a decent parental role model."

"It's just me your Dad and my size nine leather boots." said Detective Inspector Thomas Hunt restraining his only 12 year old son with six foot's worth of height and bulk "I hear you've been out of your league with yer stepmum and hurt her children."

"I'll kick Rebecca's head in!" The twelve year old threatened as he had a nasty jealous grudge towards his stepmum Scarlett's 8 year old daughter for unknown reasons. The day wasn't over with his 12-year-old schoolboy son. Scarlett goes through her list of Charlie Hunt's bad behaviour to show her police officer brother in law. "Charlie, you're just a little snotty kid and I won't let you run riot; if that had happened out in public..." Thomas paused for effect "...or a stranger's children you'd be charged with assualt, your stepmum will refuse to have you around her younger children, son."

Thomas Hunt may get some pressure from his son's mother to brush it off; but his brother Gene will help him stand his ground with regards to parental custody and protect his sister in law's younger children, especially her daughter. That level of anger and defiance from Charlie Hunt is pretty extreme and Scarlett was right to call Gene's younger brother about the incident; if Charlie is going to hurt her kids, his useless mum lets him run riot with no boundaries and be a little shit.

"Typical! I go for a statement at work and get a phone call off your stepmum about your behaviour, son." Thomas Hunt picked his wayward son up into his arms as he was losing patience with Charlie "You little scrote, get down into my car now!" into a brand new silver 2020 Ford Mondeo Titanium X Hybrid saloon.

It is not reasonable to expect people to take responsibility for an older child that assaults their younger children, and swears and shouts at them; as DI Thomas Hunt has learned from overseeing some of his brother DCI Gene Hunt's cases with teenagers; his nephew Charlie definitely needs to learn boundaries now before he reaches an age where he goes off rails.

"This is the last time that shit mum of yours darkened my sister in law." said Thomas Hunt driving his new Mondeo with the impressive hybrid engine getting his boy to understand that what he did was serious "It's difficult for you, I know son because your mum suddenly decided to stop giving you guidance and parental boundaries; when you moved into your new secondary school..." Gene's younger brother was being sympathetic to his 12 year old whilst teaching him about the consequences of actions "an older child like you that had assaulted and sworn at younger children would not be allowed near them again; you do realise that, son?"

"My mum never made sure I went to school on time, ever..." sobbed 12 year old Charlie in the rear passenger area "replaced me years ago with boring babies and toddlers..."

Detective Inspector Thomas Hunt as Charlie's father makes a phone call to his older brother in the London Metropolitan Police by the carphone function calmly explaining that whilst their sister in law Scarlett is supportive he is struggling, Charlie as his son cannot be allowed to hurt younger children.

"I know. I'm kicking myself that his mum hasn't bothered with my Charlie, since she's had three younger children... and err... started secondary school..." explained DI Thomas Hunt over the Ford Mondeo's carphone function while driving his 12 year old son to his two bedroom flat.

"Do not make it a discussion or negotiation with his mum, Tom." warned DCI Gene Hunt "She has no right to dictate anything to you about Charlie, she's lost that right after I found out details from Charlie's form tutor, the fact he's been hurting our sister in law's younger children and no-one around to mother your troubled little boy."

"I know my Charlie may be experiencing different issues, but he is old enough to know better, Genie bro." Thomas Hunt agreed with his older brother's sentiment as he worked for the Serious Crime Vice "He clearly can't be trusted around younger children and has no respect for any of those little ones around him..."

"If his mum should kick off about it so be it, explain why you're applying for full time residency." DCI Gene Hunt advised as Charlie's only uncle and the more senior police officer in London's Metropolitan Police. "Does she also know he punched our Scarlett's younger children as well?"

"Yeah, well I'll be informing her on what happened tonight; he's twelve and targeting a little eight year old girl." The youngest Hunt brother laid down the law so to speak to his only son and supported the stepmum Scarlett.

"You have every right to be horrified and could not apologised enough." Gene empathised with his younger brother over the carphone function on the way home.

"Rebecca was bleeding and my Charlie told her seven year old brother to fuck off..." Thomas sniffed fighting back his teardrops "I can't let that go... as his responsible father..." He is livid towards the whole Tuesday night drama with his son's issues around younger children and it needs to be nipped in the bud now.

Meanwhile DCI Hunt spoke to Grange View Comprehensive about his 12 year old nephew's behaviour in school, towards younger children and finding help to rein in his temper in with proper professional help. This started when he moved to secondary school because that level of aggression swearing etc coming on suddenly suggests Charlie has some major problems at school; he may be the target of bullying at school and that is translating into poor behaviour at home.

"I hope you are happy now! Tom who works for Serious Crime in our station as your son's father is getting him some help for his behaviour and defiance as it sounds extreme for his age!" Detective Inspector Alex Drake gestured wearing her hair tied back and in a suit; as she starts up the tape cassette and opens up the Apple I-Pad; saying the time, her name, rank and the suspect she is interviewing in a sound proof room.

Thomas Hunt's ex Gemma can't see the wood for the trees when she was interviewed about her eldest son's major behavioural issues at home stemming from being bullied at Grange View Comprehensive. Detective Inspector Alex Drake thanked Gene's sister in law Scarlett for her actions "You did even better which was to call both a policeman and his father. I'd be taking a massive step back from Gene youngest brother's ex as she's been causing trouble; using your brother's son to hurt young children as she couldn't be arsed to pick him up from homework club. You are not unreasonable to stop this, don't let her think you are and you have younger children to keep an eye on. Okay, have a good evening, Miss. Hunt." Alex types up a report and then when finished prints it off and emails the report on 12 year old Charlie Hunt's incident towards his stepmum Scarlett's younger children for whom it may concern in the Fenchurch station of London's Metropolitan Police.

"At least he'll be used to the Police picking him up!" Gemma smirked and laughed during the recorded interview, not bothered about Tuesday night's incident towards her son's stepmum Scarlett's young children, as it could have easily turned sinisterly violent if it wasn't for DI Thomas Hunt from Serious Crime being informed by phone and text messaging to collect his son; Gene's nephew Charlie.

_To whom it may concern_

_Scarlett removed 12 year old Charlie from the situation by having his dad Thomas Hunt (DI of Serious Crime at London Metropolitan Police) collect him. Unfortunately Charlie enjoys hurting smaller children through no fault of his father's nor his own. His mother Gemma is known for putting him in this position to gain access to younger children and place them in danger. It is a safeguarding concern; as he has displayed other behaviours, placed younger and more vulnerable children in _his immediate family in harms way_ and is in response to being bullied at Grange View Comprehensive School. Please support Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Hunt's application for full residency in relation to Tuesday night's incident as his mother Gemma Hunt is continuing to inflict his violent and challenging behaviour by allowing it without prior knowledge._

_It may be that Detective Inspector Thomas Hunt has access to Greater London Council's Social Services "Short Breaks" scheme funded to get respite from his son's SEBMH difficulties, recharge his batteries from managing his 12 year old son's behaviour and violence. A firm 'no' to him being around his stepmother Scarlett Hunt's family until he's got the right help in place. This child needs to learn he can't go about hurting other people's young children; otherwise he can be arrested and charged for hurting others. With his father being a police officer he needs consistent routine, discipline and a parent who can teach by example. Thomas is now a parent of a child with challenging behaviour himself due to suspected Special Needs; which is currently being assessed by Grange View Comprenhensive with an Educational Physchologist and the NHS; they are not an excuse for violent behaviour towards more vulnerable children._

_If DI Thomas Hunt doesn't gain full Custody of 12 year old Charlie Hunt, he could get a potential criminal record for attacking other children as the age of criminal responsibility is 10 in England and Wales. Charlie needs to be told about behaviour and expectations by his police officer father; Detective Inspector Thomas Hunt D.O.B 10/02/1986. In view of this; Charlie Hunt _is obviously struggling and dealing with a lot of issues. _Due to the nature of his Special Needs, it cannot be other people's responsibity especially if they have younger children; __nor is it "OK" for Scarlett and her children to bear the brunt of Charlie's circumstances._

_Signed_

_Detective Inspector Alexandra Drake_

Gemma Hunt has offloaded her legal parental responsibilities as soon as Charlie started secondary school, a few months back in September 2019 and endangered vulnerable younger children by insisting Gene's nephew be around them when in an irrational state of mind; he is too aggressive to be around that group.

CID are researching causes into what makes a 12 year old believe he can tell his stepmother to fuck off and hit a 7 year old? And they look at the example being set at home first. The aggressive behaviour has triggered unpleasant memories from Scarlett Hunt's past, she refuses to expose her young children to the older stepson when he is having violent outbursts; Scarlett remains open to helping out in future when Charlie has learned some coping mechanisms from e.g. his therapist to deal with his anger/stress. And it took attacking her younger children (successfully) for Thomas Hunt to get the help his son needed, including gaining full Custody. Charlie James Hunt cannot be hitting a little child he is 12 years old. Fortunately DI Thomas Hunt refused to take him to family for play dates until it was manageable.

"He is old enough to know that punches/scratches hurt, to know he is stronger than an 8 year old and to treat people with respect especially in their own home!" said Detective Inspector Sam Tyler shocked that this stems from Charlie's mum just giving up on him as soon as he started Grange View Comprehensive School and having extreme difficulties at home.

CID suspect their Guv's nephew may well have a special need which hasn't been diagnosed and has little chance unless his father pushes or alternatively he has had a much tougher time than you know - abuse/bullying etc. They check the texts from Scarlett, the Guv and his younger brother from whenever they spoke to Gene's younger brother's ex starting with where is all this anger coming from? Who is influencing him and whether his mum's behaviour might he be modelling?

"...until you can see what measures are being put in place to find out what is really going on with Charlie; you can't leave him unsupervised around younger children at all, but you can see improvements in and professional as well as fatherly acknowledgement of his aggressive behaviours." If Charlie Hunt needs professional help, then the Guv and his younger brother DI Thomas Hunt are helping to bring this to light together, by making it clear that he is not coping with normal childcare situations.

Gene's younger brother is also sign posted to the All Sorts toy library in Gloucestershire who provide specialist toys for young people up to 25 years old with additional needs as it's free to drop in but some toy equipment have a small borrowing fee on Fridays 10:00 am-12:30 pm and Saturdays with extended hours on 10:00 am – 3:00 pm (open to the public from 12.30pm). _Allsorts, Third Floor, Brunel Mall, London Road, Stroud, GL5 2BP_

It aims to be welcoming visitors, parents/carers, professionals and guardians in a non judgmental environment; the community Toy Library provides toys and equipment on loan for families, and provides a safe and fun place to play. The volunteers have the ability to work positively with children and young people who exhibit unpredictable behaviour, come from troubled backgrounds, are known to Social Services/the police and not in education or training to name a few factors.

* * *

**Detective Inspector Thomas Hunt is based in London Metropolitan Police's Serious Crime at Fenchurch East, has a 12 year old son named Charlie and is visually based on a young Philip Glenister. Luckily the Gene Genie goes wherever he is needed and supports his younger brother in getting full time residency of Charlie after his ex Gemma just dropped out of legal parental responsibilities as soon as his only son started secondary school. **


	6. Chris Skelton Meets DC Gene Hunt

_Chris's Introduction to Gene Hunt (set in 1993)_

**This is about Chris Skelton's first introduction to a then DC Gene Hunt on Greater Manchester Police in 1993 aged 19 years old (based on Marshall Lancaster's birthday giving the year of birth as 1974) and the Detective Constable (based on Philip Glenister) is three years older, being born in 1971. It can be read as a flashback to see how Chris Skelton has developed since his early days when the team were at Greater Manchester Police.**

* * *

"PC Skelton, sir. Chris Skelton."

DC Gene Hunt nodded "New?"

"Been a constable for…almost a year," Chris answered, looking shy. "You're…DC Hunt, aren't you?"

Chris eyes opened wide. "I don't want there to be a second!" he said seriously scared.

Gene smiled, noticing that Chris's eyes didn't match – one green and one blue, similar to his favourite musician David Bowie. "Ain't your choice, mate," he said, laughing. "We don't pick an' choose where the cases turn up." he must have an eye condition where the pupils change colour for some reason.

What mattered was that Chris was now looking less like a startled teenager and more like a confident young copper. It was a couple of days later that Gene next saw Chris, sitting on his own in the canteen.

"Mind if I join you?"

Chris jumped and looked up. "Oh, no," he smiled hurriedly swallowed his mouthful and nodded. "Yeah, Sir."

"Cheers for the report…it were very…thorough," Gene said, for lack of anything better.

Chris gave a small self-conscious smile. "I did me best."

Gene watched as Chris pushed his fringe out of his eyes and carried on eating, and he guessed his refs were only half an hour. DC Hunt glanced around and saw a few other people were looking over at them – it was still rare for CID and uniform to mix, even though it was the early 1990s but not as divided as it used to be years ago. One girl queuing up to get her food seemed to be paying them a bit more attention than most.

"Seem to be gettin' a lot of attention from that police woman," he said.

Chris looked up. "Oh – I said I'd 'ave me lunch with 'er, like," Chris answered, looking slightly embarrassed.

Gene gathered up his sandwich and mug of tea.

Chris flushed pink. "Annie's…I mean, WPC Cartwright just…she's new, see, an' Sergeant Dobbs said I should show 'er round and that."

"An', Chris…I'm only a DC. You don't 'ave to call me sir. 'S the Gene Genie, right?"

He was sorting out some files and on the PC terminals one day and happened to glance out of the window, noticing Chris was in the car park playing football, his shirt sleeves rolled up, with other PCs.

He squeezed Chris's shoulder, "Thanks, mate."

* * *

**A very young DC Gene Hunt and PC Chris Skelton have their first proper encounter in the canteen. Just a filler chapter for the Ashes to Ashes fanfic "Social Media Back Doors to Crime Networks", while the rest of this is being worked on.**


	7. Elaine Downing's Younger Years

_Chapter #7: Elaine Downing's Younger Years._

**Gene found out that this horribly ageing ex hooker woman is his long lost mother in law, out of the blue from his little sister Emily Joanna Hunt other than the usual police investigations into Elaine that her big brother was on****. The Guv remembers the last times he and his little sister Emily last saw her. DS Anthony Anstead learns the reason why his new boss has cut off Elaine's side of his family and why he hasn't seen his mother in law for years. This chapter also explains the Gene Genie's earliest memories of his mother in law Elaine Downing.**

* * *

"We're looking for Elaine Downing lives in number seventy-five? That's her car," DS Anthony Anstead pointed out an ageing 1980s Vauxhall Cavalier Mk2 1300 L in beige parked across the tarmac.

"Have you got keys to the flats?" Gene asked.

"No. Council social and private flats, ain't they? An' I couldn't go givin' 'em out even if I did." said the man turning back inside his front door and retrieved a bunch of keys.

"They were found this morning?" Gene asked. "When?"

The man shrugged and looked at his watch. "It were early. I'd only jus' got up. About…'alf six?"

"Did they say where they found them?" Gene asked.

Gene frowned, looking from the keys to the car, then up to the building that towered above them. A horrible feeling was growing inside him that all was not well. Elaine Downing wasn't in at this time, when the Gene Genie's CID team goes knocking on their doors holding a warrant; he knows his elderly mother in law is probably at the pub getting lashed on a few pints of alcohol until it ends in tears, so they all head back to the station to do some computer admin and collating files for a while until Gene knows they're staying in.

Chris had seen Gene's Ford Granada Mk3 Scorpio around the station, and had admired it from afar, but he had never dreamed he would get to ride in it.

DC Chris Skelton was opening up their I-Pad tablets checking up on work related e-mails and Gene handed him a sheet that had been printed out from a Microsoft Word document download.

"Good. Now, got a task for you Chrissy."

"Oh aye?" Chris said, sitting forward.

The man 3 years Gene's junior glanced down at it, then raised his eyebrows. "Me, Guv?"

Gene nodded. "May as well. Never know when there might be an opportunity. I think you're ready for it."

He e-mailed Chris the list of times for classes to study for his Inspector's exams and the I-Pad pinged on the e-mail icon, showing 1 new notification.

"Means you'll 'ave to do a bit extra office work – but I know you can manage it," Gene smiled.

"I will, Guv – thanks, I mean it... thanks, big dude..." Gene shrugged and smiled as usual, feeling proud of one of his younger colleagues as usual.

Gene and Emily attended their mother's drama school - The Artist's Theatre School - every Saturday as the Guv and his little sister wanted to learn about acting, the stage and how to present themselves on television, since they were members of the National Youth Theatre.

Lynda Bellingham on a newspaper's website mentioned an incident that happened with him one night at a wrap party after a shift at Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad before storming off with Elaine Downing at the time.

DS Anthony Anstead asked about the Guv's little sister Emily and what was her connection to the ageing woman who had a few parts in various comedies, medical sitcoms and detective shows back in the day.

"Elaine's ex is a jealous bitter twisted old man whose policing career may be on the wane and I'm guessing he doesn't like it that nicer people and more talented people like John Simm and Philip Glenister are getting the parts he used to get, when I was a kid. My little sister Em says he either sees women as mates or slags and used to have a go at all of his wives, Elaine included when he had a few." said DCI Gene Hunt remembering what his father in law is now like towards the modern 21st Century world especially in the police force.

Gene looked across at him, from his relaxed pose leaning on the graphite grey roof "Alright, ain't it?"

Dean parked up outside the station and climbed out of his car slowly, transfixed by the cool future classic 90s Ford executive vehicle in the next space. "You kept that quiet, didn't you?"

Gene smirked. "And don't think for one second you're getting the keys, mate."

Gene Hunt can clearly remember the day they went to appear on Wogan and the coffee table had two jigsaw puzzles, _Minder_ was fresh in the public's imagination and for duration of this particular chat show. While Alan Burnside was talking to Wogan, he stopped what he was saying and said "Do you MIND? I am talking!" he picked up the puzzle. She did not pull him up in the same way, just carried on talking to Wogan. A minute later, while she was still talking, he loudly shouted out "DONE IT!" brandishing the solved puzzle in triumph, totally interrupting - and ruining the talk show.

"Then I watched him and Elaine when they appeared on _Wogan_ once in the 1980s..." DCI Gene Hunt breaks his voice as he speaks of his memories of Elaine Downing "I was only a child and in my teens at the time and knew nothing about abusive, controlling, nasty men. But I have detested mum in law ever since..."

_"_It's all over the interview..." DC Chris Skelton mumbles feeling nervous about dealing with Gene's mother in law as he was the one of the two officers dealing with the recordings and transcripts

_I am not a chauvinist but I think women belong at home. _Alan openly admits on the cassette tape inside one of the Interview rooms. _The trouble is that there are so many women nowadays who make false allegations of DV for the simple reason that they can do and get away with it. As a result, Mothers get support from the likes of Women's Aid, get a new life, new house, fleece the ex partner financially and so forth - all because of how easy it is to make false allegations. She gets legal aid, he (if he works) has to pay a fortune in legal costs. In the meantime, the real victim is left penniless, no contact with his kids, no support._

"He is literally a text book denier." replied DCI Sam Tyler looking at Gene's father in law's psychological profile "And it should be plastered over every paper as an example of how many abusers think about women (should not be intelligent, should not answer back, stand up for themselves, should be 'at home')."

"I have it from a good source what a nutter my father in law is towards women and people in general." said the Guv as this case shines a light on his ex sister in law's Hannah's relationship attitude and behaviour too. "always thought my father in law was a tosser, now I know!" he was fuming towards the whole historical domestic violence case. "A wife beating twat to boot!"

"And he was a minder? Oh the irony..." complained Detective Inspector Alex Drake printing off all the photographs she can find on the ex hooker woman.

_It was actually a violent, abusive pattern and there were times when he hit me. I became the object of his hate. It got so bad that he became abusive to me and my daughter, and the last time it happened I had to run out of the house in tears. _A statement from one of Gene's father in law's ex wives. _Alan Burnside__ is actually quite Victorian in that way._

"It will be interesting to see if any more past lovers of her come out of the woodwork after this today." said DI Alex Drake at her slim desktop computer working away at this case and clearing any overdue crime reports "Not a fan of _Loose Women_ but they were unaminous in their opinions of Elaine."

"It was directed towards her daughter at the time, as well; which makes it even more disturbing. I would love to have been a fly on the wall while they were filming the episode for Elaine Downing. I'm willing to bet the producers weren't happy." said DS Ray Carling who has never liked Gene's more violent family members, even though some are now presumably elderly. "I hope this confession will have wrecked her career, she'll have to retire anyway as getting on for nearly 67-73 years old!"

One of the Guv's earlier childhood memories is raspberry medicine and _The Sweeney. _

Dean stood back and nodded, a touch of jealousy creeping over him. His own car was good enough – he still loved his faithful old Capri, but the Granada Mk3 was something else. This machine was beautiful. "Must've cost you a bit, back in 1994." he commented, admiring the space age design and smoke effect fittings.

Gene shrugged. "Worth every penny. Get in Chrissy, I'll take you for a spin."

Gene took the car to its limits, and it felt as if they cornered on two wheels more than once especially with the power steering and auto transmission.

"No crime has ever gone unnoticed from us in this!" squealed DC Chris Skelton in excitement over the roar of the V6 engine.

Gene nodded, then reached down and pressed the radio on. Chris noticed it also had a cassette tape in it, had the ability to play compact discs and nodded appreciatively.

They arrived back at the station car park in a squeal of tyres as they skidded across the tarmac.

Chris had found actually working on a case far more satisfying than pounding the beat each day, sorting out petty squabbles, issuing ASBOs and just showing his face in the community. And, despite the ribbing his friends gave him, he did feel a bit more important in plain clothes.

The next Monday morning, Chris dressed in a clean shirt, his uniform and smart trousers, even knotting a tie and settling it under the long points of his collar. Then he pulled on his best top and a jacket. He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and reached into his pocket, pulling out his warrant card and flashing it to an imagined suspect. "DC Skelton – you're under arrest, on suspicion of... you do not have to say anything but anything you do or say may be given in evidence; which you later rely on in court." he said. Then decided he was being a bit too friendly. He frowned, tried again and made it firmer. That was better, he decided – sounded more like a CID officer should. He put away his card and straightened his clothing up, then heard his mum calling, so ran downstairs.

"Come on, Christopher, I've cooked you a proper breakfast, set you up for your day in CID," she gestured to the plate in his place at the table. His Dad was already eating, so Chris sat down and tucked in.

"Thanks Mum, it's great," he said, mouth full.

"You just be careful," his Dad said. "Sort of people you'll be goin' after now ain't what you're used to. Playin' with the big boys and girls now, Christopher."

Chris nodded, although it annoyed him slightly that his Dad still treated him like a child. He knew the risks of his work well enough.

Chris felt even more nervous than he had the first time he'd been in CID as he walked toward the door. He opened it and looked in to see a few people milling about, most with mugs of tea, various coffee types or hot chocolate in their hands, smartphones and computer documents on the go with their favourite crisps or chocolate bar.

"Hey, the Guv wants to see you, straight away," said DCI Sam Tyler at his neat and tidy computer suite.

"Skelton," Gene tunefully barked. "Come 'ere, 'ave this." He held out a small oblong of card which read 'This is to certify that Christopher Skelton holds the rank of Detective Constable. This is his warrant and authority for executing the duties of his office." He took out his warrant card and slipped it in front of his old one, stroking the plastic down over it.

"Thanks, Guv," he smiled.

Gene nodded. "stick with me, you'll learn that being on my team is the best place to be; DCI Tyler or I will show you how things work. In the meantime, find me a few chocolate Hobnobs and a cup of tea from the vending machine, right?"

Chris listened wide-eyed and nodded, then left to complete his first task for his new boss.

He was asked to bring Gene his tea and some of the McVities chocolate _Hobnob_ biscuits.

Chris ate his bacon butty slowly, despite not really being hungry after his Mum's fry-up that morning, and watched as the Gene Genie licked brown sauce off his fingers; unfortunately DS Dean Carling had been picked on for being homosexual.

Gene was worried, but he didn't let it show. He knew Dean was strong, but he also knew his sergeant had a quick, fiery way of thinking. He had witnessed that when Dean had arrested the man who tried to insult them in the street.

Dean swallowed, and once the judge had warned Blanchard, he continued with his testimony, but he could feel his nerves beginning to show. When Blanchard's defence lawyer began the cross examination, he really felt the pressure. The man constantly made Dean repeat himself, making much of Dean's thick Manchester accent, which was all the more pronounced when he was under stress.

He took strength from the fact that Gene has always believed in his team and had fought for them. He knew he couldn't let his Guv'nor down.

Sam tapped a _Subway_ sandwich "How do you like to earn some brownie points with the boss?" He had thought about Chris a lot, the young man was always on his mind as he was the mentor to him, and he always seemed to be around, bumping into PCSO Sharon Grainger or in the custody suite. Chris was growing up. No longer a skinny kid, he was now a young man - still slim, but more muscular.

In CID, it was your run of the mill stuff occasionally; full of files, computers, photocopiers, fax machines and white boards covered in case notes, the Greater Manchester Police staff intranet and photos, e-mails, IP addresses and things.

* * *

**Will DC Chris Skelton flourish with DCI Gene Hunt's team? **


	8. Old Tricks

_Chapter #8: Old Tricks_

**Ant's missus is green with envy towards Gene Hunt for some reason, as the case now investigates Elaine Downing's first husband who was a former CID officer in the 1970s and 1980s in the London Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad unit at the time.**

* * *

"That Elaine Downing, she was the nauseating woman who lived near from wotsername and old enough to be your new boss's mother for God's sake!"

"Yeah, I know me and DCI Gene Hunt remember raiding the premises of the Cresent Moon dating agency when we found young kids and single women were domestically abused by some of her men. An ancient, elderly hooker who lived upstairs in a rough council flat." said DS Anstead answering "I know you think I have a man crush on my own boss. His acne scarred face only adds to the allure...and the accent."

"Mrs. Downing's probably now in her late 60s or early 70s, those poor now teenage girls are saddled with a mother clearly old enough to be their grandma who is 30 or 40 odd years way overdue for having children." replied Mrs. Anstead.

"Yes darling, it's a sad state of affairs on the Guv's mother in law's side of the family, catch you later."

"Oh I think I remember something else about old Elaine that might help with your boss's case,_ s_peechless. I hope nobody ever hires him in UCOS and that ancient elderly ex hooker again after I read a quotation of him saying clever women make men lash out in the Mirror newspaper."

Detective Sargeant Anthony Anstead's missus was so cross about Gene's mother in law ex husband's connection.

"I must have been quite young but I still realised what a pair of twats they were. Elaine saying how they wanted to adopt because they were too busy to bother with pregnancy until she had two late in life kids out of the blue in 2002 and 2005; they wanted a boy."

DS Anthony Anstead unearths something else on Elaine Downing "...and that was even before the years of booze and cigarettes will have decimated her performances."

"The sad old twat has stitched herself up completely - no more than mother in law deserves!" replied the Guv over his gold Samsung Galaxy smartphone answering to his new colleague "bet her ex still believes he really is a no nonsense, tough, maverick copper even though I remember him being a rough DCI, last time I met him in 1991."

"This is not the first time I have seen him interviewed. Its not the first time I have seen him spout bollocks and the 'lovable scamp holding his hands up to being a naughty boy' act doesn't wash with me." answered DS Anthony Anstead "but is alcoholism the only possible reason for his shaking hands? I was thinking maybe he had early Parkinsons. He did say he was a boxer in his youth.."

"Possibly, Ant, I never got the way she was portrayed as a hot babe when she was young. Did Alan really fancy her?" asked DCI Gene Hunt whom is working on a domestic violence enquiry into Elaine Downing's men especially as the latter had an affair with a now ageing 70s police detective.

"He's a really unpleasant bloke. I suspect that the reason his career in the police force hasn't really flourished as it should have done, given its beginnings, is because nobody really likes him. He comes across as a nasty bastard, someone you should avoid."

The 39 or 40 year old man is printing out everything on him and Mrs. Downing including police records, media articles, photographs from past and present; plus video footage as today's 21st Century modern technology might help the two CID policemen make something stick, even if it's historical.

"When was the last time my mother in law's ex husband and she worked this much? when was the last time they were seen at the police balls and dinners?" asked the Guv, Gene Hunt "He also blames the alcohol several times. I failed to read any real sense of remorse from her first husband. It was more a case of "Oh shit, I've been rumbled." He lied his way throughout the recorded interviews, e.g. conveniently forgetting he'd punched her, which makes me dispute his version of events... I think he may have an early form of dementia, but I can't say if that's for sure without the evidence or testamonies; especially as some took place years ago in the 70s-80s when I was just a kid and then a teenager."

"Speaking to another colleague back at the factory about this today and he said the wormy old copper was always lashed up in a pub round the corner from here." replied DS Anthony Anstead who has dropped his kids off back at his wife's "Anyway I'll smell you later Guv, see ya for now."

* * *

**DCI Gene Hunt and DS Anthony Anstead during enquiries are discussing a washed-up 70's - 80s CID police officer who earnt ridiculous money from being an average DCI and singing cringe-worthy soundtracks, who now has the audacity to court publicity to further fuel his shrinking ego, his relationship with his now also elderly ex hooker former wife and domestic violence towards women. This reveals her affair with a then DS George Carter (visually based on Dennis Waterman) which will be explained in a later chapter and Gene unexpectedly bumps into him at a London Metropolitan Police Awards ceremony after his distant mother in law Elaine Downing sees the first CID officer she fell in love with during the mid to late 1970s (approximately 1975-1979).**


	9. Gene Has a Stepbrother

_Chapter #9: Gene Has a Stepbrother._

**When Gene's mother learns about her eldest son getting his little sister Emma Joanne Hunt involved with the historical domestic violence case as a police informer, Mrs. Hunt is worried about the backlash from her sister in-law. She also has a hard time with caring for stepson Philip, when a judgemental teacher from Salford Primary School completely misunderstands the situation. Gene learns about what had happened to his 9 year old stepbrother when he was a younger toddler.**

* * *

A seventy odd year old lady appeared from the front room. "What the…Eugene?" she said sharply.

"Eugene!" she scolded "What's this case you and your CID mates are working on against your mother in law and her lousy ex husband of an ex copper?"

Gene protested and asked his question quickly "You know my little sister Emma has seen the kid's much younger biological father, also spotted him in Richmond Marks & Spencer and Kew Retail Park with the youngest?"

"Don't tell his family, cos your Dad'll not be pleased to come 'ome to find you've been using your little sister as a police informer against his sister in law, though I have never liked Elaine Downing even back in the day when she was still pretty. He'll give you both what for, Eugene and Emma."

The smell of freshly cooked breakfast made his stomach growl. Gene took a huge bite out of one of the slices of toast in front of him.

Gene frowned at being told off. "Just…watch him, Mum. I'll text or call you and be back soon as I can." He climbed the steps to the Stopford House station as other people arrived in dribs and drabs, the uniformed officers all preparing for shift change. He headed for the CID office, his first thought to buy a cup of coffee on the way to Greater Manchester Police at one of the local _Starbucks_ coffee shops.

"In position, Boss," Chris radioed quietly. "Ready when you are." they were helping Uniform find a missing old man with dementia who worked at the Salford Docks once a upon a time before becoming a police officer decades ago.

"Well maybe someone he used to know – if he's confused. Dementia can make elderly people believe all sorts. He might think he's in his favourite film for all you know, poor thing, the past events of their life or in their childhood." said DC Annie Cartwright after summoning a team of paramedics to collect the confused old man to the nearest NHS hospital, once DCI Tyler rang 999 for an ambulance and answered the operator's questions; who then typed in all the relayed details and the patient's address on to the computer and in priority.

"Always find that the ex forces boys fight back quicker than the rest," the nurse smiled.

Gene nodded, then frowned. "He was a copper once, not Army."

"Well ex-forces then. This gentleman was in the navy, wasn't he?" asked the nurse.

Gene shook his head. "Nah, worked on boats, but he wasn't enlisted into National Service until 1956, Sam and I found this out when we were researching his record."

The nurse frowned. "His old tattoos though…he's got the badge from the HMS Newfoundland on his shoulder." At Gene's quizzical look she smiled again. "My father was in the navy, my brother and I would spend hours looking at all the badges and medals, in books. I wouldn't forget that one, it was one of my favourites, with the caribou on it."

"The nurse was on about your tattoos. Says she recognised some of 'em." DCI Gene Hunt explained to the confused old man in the hospital bed with a crisp, clean bedset in his hospital gown.

"Thing is, she didn't say it was a merchant ship. She said it were the HMS Newfoundland. Her dad was in the Navy, see, and she used to read up on all that stuff. Natural interest, I s'pose." blathered the curly haired old man, remembering his youth at sea during the days of National Service. "'56, I were back off Malaya, pounding them with the guns. Spent nearly two years over there, workin' for one of the plantations, lookin' after the place." he managed in the end, even though it felt like yesterday for him.

Even though he was only a kid at the time, in the 1970s and 1980s, DCI Gene Hunt had always protected his beloved mum from some of the more violent members of his family. Denise has to look after her stepson Philip belonging to one of Gene's two brothers.

Gene had been in Manchester, cleaning the streets he'd grown up on of the scum that littered them. There had been times when he'd regretted some of his childhood choices; but he had a career, a wife, a fantastic mum, brilliant friends at work and a house – all the things that most in his position had chosen to give up. Manchester was as much a part of Gene as he was of Manchester, and he knew, deep down, that's how it should be.

When he had been younger he would never have believed you could love anyone enough for it to hurt.

"And look at the state of you," she finally said, sitting down next to the filthy child at her pine wood dining table. "Don't look like you've 'ad a bath in a month." as Mrs. Hunt took his filthy clothes off, separated them by colour and put the correct detergant in the washing machine, according to the programmes on her _Samsung_ washing machine.

The little boy denies that he has been naughty "You've been causing mischief for your dear stepmummy! Well, really. I remember when my two became sixteen. My Gene had his first job in the Police Service. Your sort should look up to kids like 'im. He didn't come from much, an' look what he's made of hi'self. Proud of him, I am. Any mother would be. What d'your feckless parents think of you, eh? Getting' all in trouble? Think they're proud? I'm ashamed of them, bringing such badly behaved children into the family!" Philip was immediately placed into the bath before dinner as he finished school from 3:00 PM.

As soon as he could sign out from the station, Gene headed back through the city streets to his mother's house. He let himself in and smelling dinner cooking, was glad he was in time.

"'Ello Mum." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Everything all right?"

"No, Eugene; your stepbrother is unruly. I noted he's been picking fights daily and I got called up the school. HITTING A TEACHER!" ranted Mrs. Hunt needing to talk to her eldest police officer son "right now I feel like taking the stepson to a specialist!"

"So also had no Nintendo DS, Wii, computer or cartoons for a week, in the course of this week, you have been called up the school about yer stepkids on three seperate instances, with different children involved, Mum on my stepson's bad behaviour." asked DCI Gene Hunt "this isn't right, you shouldn't have to be picking up the pieces of my brothers unruly offspring, when you should be enjoying your autumn years in peace. You've done your parenting years in the 70s and 80s when we were kids." he then explained.

"A note was in his book bag today saying he was in trouble not once but 3 times! For the best, I'd say. Those poor children, seems like my stepson would be better off without that sort of influence." She checks her purse for the housekeeping money on the worktop, she exclaimed "Phil's 'ad all me housekeeping, it needs to be deposited into the bank tomorrow!"

"You wait 'til I find stepbro Phil." Gene's blue eyes blazed with anger. "I'll fuckin' teach 'im a lesson, you just see if I don't. Little baby scrote."

"Language, Gene!" his mother scolded.

Gene shouted when little 9 year old Phil is finally dressed. "Think you can come in 'ere, laughing at your stepbrother, nicking your step mum's housekeeping money and misbehaving at school…you're nothin' but a thieving little SHIT of a stepbrother." and immediately carts him to his waiting Ford Granada Mk3 Scorpio by the scruff of his white school polo top and royal blue Salford Primary School jumper "And if you get one fuckin' drop of orange juice in my car you'll be lickin' the whole fucking thing clean."

Gene was beginning to feel tiny pangs of regret, now that his anger was subsiding as he drove his stepson to school.

"Then about 11:30; I have a phone call from school. It was the deputy head saying my stepson was really upset this morning. I said well I'm not surprised he was really naughty this morning." said Mrs. Denise Louise Hunt to her book club friends who have been through similar tales of woe with their child relatives "Monday morning we was getting ready as it was back to school after the half term break. My stepson was very cross that he had to go back to school as he thought he was still on holiday. He was adamant he wasn't going but I said he has to as it's the law. This is whilst he is screaming at the top of their voice. Then we go on to the next performance of his useless mum trying to get him dressed."

"Sounds like your daughter in laws, can't be bothered to bring their children up properly. I think the school have totally over stepped the mark." replied Ruth Tyler who also knew Gene Hunt from a very young age "You've explained to little Philip that just because he gets told off and it might hurt his feelings it doesn't mean it's physically hurting too."

"So the stepson kept taking them off, shouting and screaming and my son Eugene (his older stepbrother) was trying to put the clothes back on. His little stepbrother was then tantruming on the floor and throwing toys everywhere. Luckily my son Gene videoed the tantrum as I wanted to show the professionals how bad Phil was being."

"Phil should be ashamed of himself treating his stepmum this way and he should be acting more grown up now he's going to be 9 this year." replied retired police officer Phyllis Dobbs who knew of the new culture on children being believed at all costs, especially when they have a history of disturbed behaviour "Your stepson goes round telling everyone that his mum and dad are so nasty to him."

The judgemental female teacher had allowed Denise Hunt's three stepchildren to rule the roost both at home and in Salford Primary School: _Well that isn't all, he has told us your daughter in law hit him and that his Dad beats him too! I have reported you to Social services._

"I was gob smacked and honestly couldn't believe he had said that." Mrs. Hunt had the words from the phone replay in her mind "This teacher wasn't a very nice lady, I felt like she had already passed judgment without knowing what actually happened and was only ringing me to inform me. The school know all about the difficulty we've had with the stepson, cousins behaviour and they're mostly the same at school; ask my police officer son Eugene, he'll confirm the stand on this for his dear mum. I was obviously distraught and had the worst case scenarios going round my head." she sobbed in a heap in front of her book club circle "Sadly there is a protocol that they must follow in cases where a child makes a serious allegation."

Mrs. Hunt and her police officer son Gene often thought that something wasn't right with Phil but the doctors and school just put it down to him just being a bit naughty. Social Services are all so scared of another Baby P or similar that they cover their backs. There were 1.5 years between the violent partner leaving and another step father arriving.

"Every time my phone rings I panic, it is the Social Services calling." said Mrs. Denise Louise Hunt stressed out from the bombshell that the stepson's primary school have unleashed on her, it is well documented that children living in violent situations especially in their formative years 0 - 5 years old are going to be adversely affected.

Denise Hunt's stepson needs to heal from the trauma he witnessed in those early years.

Gene was holding little Phil so he couldn't do any harm and just repeating in a very calm voice "No, I am not going to let you hurt anyone. No, I cannot let you hurt anyone."

He'd avoided other male CID officers in the past, but mainly because the men on the team were either so old Gene felt like he should be driving them around in a hearse, or younger than him they'd been clueless about the job description or messed up the computers, who'd held him back and annoyed him so much he'd felt like he was running a primary school.

Chris was different. Gene didn't feel like he needed to nanny state him, although he knew Chris was a few years younger than himself, from their previous meeting. He was fast becoming Gene's best friend, apart from DCI Sam Tyler and DC Annie Cartwright.

"Want to tell me what's up then, DCI Hunt?" said the fledgling Detective Constable.

"It's me mum having to look after my stepbrother for the time being..." Gene Hunt was feeling miles away in the Greater Manchester Police briefing room "Phil's made up some false allegation to his teacher and she's completely misunderstood the situation by blowing it out to the Social..." he stayed silent for a long moment drawing little doodles around his notes.

Chris assessing his boss Gene's demeanour. "If I can help…" he finally offered.

Gene looked up again. "Yeah. I mean, thanks. I dunno…there's…" he shrugged, then leant forward, resting his elbows on the modern design table "Mum's so worried…" he shook his head.

Chris rang the doorbell of the nearest and neat council house.

"Mum," Gene gestured to DC Chris Skelton "Brought a colleague of mine to help you."

"Mrs Hunt…uh…" stammered Chris nervously as he stood at the front door.

"I knew my Gene'd find another good mate in the end – he's a good boy, honest, so stick by him and you'll be a DCI yourself one day." said Mrs. Hunt stood at the front door welcoming Chris Skelton in, while she was in the middle of reprimanding little Phil at the same time, hoping that Gene's mum had made a good impression on the new Detective Constable.

"...with stepbrother Eugene, he'll teach you right from wrong, an' this time you can keep them hands to yourself," after another incident at Salford Primary School being phoned in "lying and naughty little toe-rag..." the nine year old boy had his computer games confiscated again and no cartoons on CITV for a week again.

"Mum said you could come back to hers tonight, for some dinner." said DCI Gene Hunt who reiterated the offer.

Chris said he'll have a takeaway doner kebab tonight, but Denise Hunt insists "Nonsense – you'll no doubt need a good proper and home cooked meal." Mrs. Hunt ushered him to one of the seats at the table. "In fact my Gene, has invited you as a colleague of his to have dinner with his dear mummy. Sorry you had to watch me reprimand one of the kiddies, today."

"Now what can I get for you? Dinner's in and cooking – some nice lamb and freshly steamed vegetables, I've done." said Gene's mum dishing up the plates and dinner. "En familie, a tableau!" called Gene's mother gathering the family up for dinner breezily.

* * *

**Can DCI Gene Hunt protect his mum from the backlash of her sister in law Elaine Downing's disturbing family dynamics? **


	10. CID Morale

**Detective Superintendent Harry Woolf has had enough of DS Ray Carling causing problems for his former Detective Inspector Gene Hunt's team upstairs in the CID department and it is beginning to seriously affect morale and discipline. Detective Superintendent Harry Woolf has asked his former DI to travel back to Manchester from London for this part.**

* * *

_Chapter #10: CID Morale_

Once, DCI Gene Hunt wasn't standing near some bloke that got beaten badly by a new wayward and hotheaded Detective Sargeant on his CID team and saw that the random man was dispatched to the nearest hospital by paramedics in an flourescent yellow and white ambulance. He decided all he could do was come clean and tell all the truth that he thought Gene and Harry should hear in front of a Discipline and Complaints commitee. The pounding fists made old injuries ache again - fingers he'd broken on other people's faces. "Give me your handcuffs, police equipment and your warrant card," Gene demanded, holding his hand out to Ray.

"I've had enough of you. You're a loose cannon. Christ knows no one here wants to work with you, Ray." said Detective Superintendent Harry Woolf behind his desktop computer as he is preparing witness statements to be photocopied; disciplining the new hot headed Detective Sergeant "I heard he got moved to here 'cause he broke DI Turner's nose in an argument in B-Division at his previous police station." he answered to his former Detective Inspector who shared the same principles of policing as Sam Tyler and his Guv.

Gene's face broke into a sulky frown "DS Carling? I don't know 'im – never 'eard of 'im. Why's he want to work with me, Guv?" his Salford Manchurian accent shining through.

"Just…bring him up to date with your cases when he arrives. Show him the beat, the usual." replied Detective Superintendent Harry Woolf who heard of DS Ray Carling as he keeps up to date with all of the police stations around Britain, as it was a part of being a Detective Superintendent as Harry had worked hard to gain his years of policing experience and values his reputation. Ray wears a jacket, but his tie was loose and his collar undone, a smoker as whenever he was outside, cigarettes would hang from his moustache due to the 2007 no smoking regulations and his hair was a dirty blonde looking slightly unruly.

Gene nodded, still confused as to why a copper he'd never even heard of had asked to work with him in CID specifically. Gene enjoyed an easy day driving around the city and explaining the crimes currently on their books.

"So, how long you been in the force then?" Gene asked.

"Five years," Ray answered.

"An' before?" Gene pressed, wondering if he knew the older man from somewhere else. Gene nodded, but there was still nothing that gave him a clue.

Harry Woolf stood by the window in his office, sipping on a caramel coffee from Costa. No one had ever come back from a day being thrown around Manchester by Hunt's tactical driving methods with a smile still on their face as the DCI was also trained in Advanced Driving methods. Everything he'd heard about Carling had indicated that he would either get along famously or kill his other colleagues and be up before Discipline and Complaints.

He was a copper since 16 starting with the GMP cadets in 1987, he should be able to place names and faces easily.

"and believe me, if you start behaving like a thug in front of DCI Hunt, and don't arrive in here tomorrow with new fucking attitudes, ready to work with my protege Gene... then you're banned from CID, DS Carling! Do you understand?" Detective Superintendent Harry Woolf answered firmly to a badly behaved Detective Sergeant stood before him. Gene hissed, steering the older man through the main room of the Detective Superintendents department, also known as D-Division informally.

Gene Hunt was busy with his 9 year old stepbrother Phil at home with his mum and doesn't need this sort of rubbish on his beloved team "I'm keepin' the little stepbro away from people like DS Carling... as I got to go an' see me Mum. So cover for me, DCI Tyler please if you can?" Gene looked at his digital watch and saw it was half an hour before the PCSOs shift would start.

"Yes, Guv." replied DCI Sam Tyler at his office "Everything will be in order, for when you return to do the night shifts." A few of the CID officers who had wives, families, girlfriends or boyfriends and children to return home to had left.

Harry realised there was something going on that he didn't fully know about DS Carling, but Woolf knew better than to dig around - but there has been records kept on the PC Terminals, Ray once failed the selection test for enlisting into the British Army and nearly hanged himself in a suicide attempt after a heated arguement with his father at the time. If it wasn't for the uniformed officers who were first on scene to diffuse the heated tension in the terraced house, then it was a likely chance Ray Carling would not be here alive today. "He's meant to be a fuckin' work mate with my old colleagues. Not think he should take his anger out on innocent members of the public." spat DCI Gene Hunt when he and Harry researched DS Ray Carling's service record on his computer and the horrifying, brutal childhood he had with a father who failed his son, just because he couldn't follow his family's tradition of being in the British Army.

"Good, Christopher. Got my mum who wants to meet you, again." replied DCI Gene Hunt in the driving seat of his Ford Granada Mk3 Scorpio in sonic blue "She invited you to tea, when I first introduced her to you."

"Mum, I had a nasty, hot headed Detective Sargeant turned up in the CID offices this week, out of the blue." Gene told his mum about what had been going on in Greater Manchester Police CID "only last night, he beaten up some random bloke who is now in hospital!" Chris followed Gene through to the kitchen and leant against the worktop, accepting an offer for a mug of tea from Denise Louise Hunt, Gene's mum.

"Ta, love," said Gene to his mum, who gives her eldest son some sage advice "I expected it. You should celebrate – I'm very proud of you, a DCI, Eugene! There's more responsibility an' all, to go with the rank."

Gene took a huge bite out of one of the beans of toast in front of him. "Got any more tea brewed?"

DS Carling should have known that Gene would remember. Not the cleverest thing to do – beat someone unconscious in front of your new DCI.

"You know what mums are like, fussin' and all." Gene told his oldest best friend DCI Sam Tyler in their office "We'll need you to write down and type in what 'appened when you first met DS Carling an' all." with a touch of boyish bravado. They were e-mailed an assignment in the Smithfields market in Ashton Old Road around the Bradford area as Gene's computer chimed.

"Right, first priority, stop anyone leavin' and buying counterfeit goods, I know they've got knock off stuff in the Smithfields market on Ashton Old Road around Bradford Way. Have you got your protective clothing, equipment, tasers, body cameras and radios? If anyone should ask, show them your warrant cards!" The Guv barked to the faces stood near the high cube style police vans, expecting their orders "This gang are always violent when challenged and their MO is always expensive designer goods."

On the signal they all bundled out of the Greater Manchester Police vans, spilling out across the market street in different teams: armed response, uniform and plain clothed CID. Once everyone was rounded up and the Smithfields market gang were under arrest, handcuffed with the 1994 police caution read and were all secured in the backs of the vans; the mood was jubilant. And now CID and Uniform could begin searching their stock "Hey, you," Gene grabbed one of the PCs gently by the hand. "Grab a battenburg car, run the stock up to the evidence base. Right?"

The male PCSO nodded. "Yes, Sir, DCI Hunt." dangling the keys to one of the battenburg cars on his finger and electronically unlocks it.

Gene then reached out and folded Chris's fingers back around the money, pushing it toward him. "Look at it like a bonus, for a job well done," he smiled.

In the Railway Arms; there were darts matches going on, card games springing up, fruit machines and quizzes being played with the odd drink flowing. "Better get the DC boy 'ome," he said, in a waft of scampi flavoured crisps, cola with G&T and the sour Swizzels Matlows _Stinger_ chewy sweet in neon green. He weaved through the pub, which was emptying anyway, and put his hand on Chris's back. "C'mon, 's get you 'ome," Chris nodded, still grinning like a fool.

Chris glanced down at himself. He still felt like a kid – surely no one would take him seriously.

Gene rubbed away some of the frost on the windows and peered inside his Ford car, but there was nothing unusual – discarded food wrappers, his Arsenal football scarf, and one of Chris's Marvel universe comics.

"Skelton!" Gene shouted, the next morning. Chris feared it wasn't the first time he'd been called. "Get your legal ledger notebook," Gene ordered. "And I-Pad!"

* * *

**DCI Gene Hunt deals with a just transferred hot-headed Detective Sargeant with the help of his former Guv, Detective Superintendent Harry Woolf and has a Smithfields Market sting on his books. Sorry for diverting from the main storyline, I promise to get Gene back to London for the next chapter. **


	11. Single Handedly

_Chapter #11: Single Handedly._

**DCI Gene Hunt has another bone to pick with his distant mother in law Elaine when she left her son in law with her eldest Millie then 16 years old and pregnant with now 6 month old Elizabeth to look after a preteen and child relatives; has been in sole charge with Millie while her elderly mother went on a jolly abroad in America to see relatives he doesn't have contact with anymore for memorable reasons back in 2018. This chapter reveals what Millie was like before she became a teenage mum of three under fives. It explains Elaine Downing's mental health problems in more detail when Gene's team notice she was diagnosed with PTSD during 1995 when the Guv's distant mother in law pulled a knife on someone's toddler for throwing a tantrum and harmed a 12 year old boy with a chair in his French class triggering a safeguarding referral since the 67-73 year old woman has unhealthy obsessions with other people's children. There is more incidents of historical underage Social Media usage from his now teenage nieces that Elaine didn't bother to be aware of. **

* * *

"But since then, we have had the #Me Too movement, Operation Yewtree – and I think the mood of the country has changed." said DCI Gene Hunt with the knowledge that his distant now elderly mother in law Elaine Downing is a product of her generation; but also revealed that he himself had great memories of the 1970s and 1980s and fondly remembered growing up with constant power cuts in the house because they were a great excuse to not do his homework.

"I was a kid in the 70s-80s, so I have fond memories. I remember the power cuts. Those were a great excuse not to do my homework. The only snag was the telly would go off in the middle of Z-Cars or something like cut my Nintendo NES game short."

From August 2018, he recalls having to take sole charge with Millie 16 pregnant with his third cousin to look after a then 13 year old Charlotte Downing, along with several child relatives "Millie and I found it difficult because Elaine went away abroad for most of August in America; seeing relatives in Kentucky and LA!" Gene explained to his best friend Detective Inspector Sam Tyler who wasn't impressed at a pregnant 16 year old and his Guv being left to single handedly look after a troublesome 13 year old and several of Elaine's grandchildren all under 10.

"You and your eldest niece Millie who was pregnant at the time were made to look after a tricky 13 year old on top of mother in law's naughty grandchildren? While the old woman swans off to America for the whole of August; seeing the relatives you last saw as a child in Kentucky and Los Angeles?!" DI Sam Tyler punctuated his hands to make a point as they investigate "I bet Elaine's demanded you spend £20,000 dollars on summer camp with the American children for them."

Millie's really into her writing. She is a dreamer, she loves writing poetry and plays a bit of piano. She wrote a song yesterday. Gene started rearranging it for her on a music editing program - Gene knows a little about music, but it's her 'me time' for dealing with three young children all under five and so Millie keeps a bit of the person she was before she became a teenage mum of three.

"It was quite hard to keep the younger kids amused, juggle soft play, theme parks, cinema, Hollywood Bowl and make sure they didn't wreck my house." replied DCI Gene Hunt writing the latest historical red flag on his mother in law's side of family seeing as the incident was only two years old, but it needed to be logged anyway in case people don't know what Elaine Downing is really like; especially as CID revealed she spent most of the August school summer holidays in America while forcing her police officer son in law and eldest daughter who had Elizabeth inside her to look after young grandchildren on top of a tricky 13 year old.

DI Alex Drake comes into the office telling Gene the truth about his distant now elderly mother in law Elaine Downing's jolly abroad to the United States of America for all of the school summer holidays, seeing relatives in Kentucky and LA that Gene could only vaguely remember; he was watching television with his distant mother in law Elaine's relatives about aged 3-4 years old in 1974 or 1975, it was a B-rated Hammer House of Horror film about a evangelist who has power he wields over people, that brainwashing thing.

"It's not the point Gene, because what if your 13 year old niece Charlotte went and told a teacher back at school about her geriatric mother swanning off to America for a whole month in August smack bang in school holidays? They'd be right to make a safeguarding referral especially as it involved a pregnant 16 year old trying to help you manage her older mum's grandchildren on top of a difficult 13 year old child!" Alex admonishes the Guv for letting his mother in law walk all over him again.

"My distant mother in law, Elaine is stuck solidly in the Seventies and getting on in years. You should see her in big collars and flared jeans or trousers as she's kept the same clothes that have been around since I was little with the awful bouffant poodle perm." he replies to Detective Inspector Alex Drake wearing her straightened hair and a pink jumper with black leggings.

Gene is something of a legend with the police force, his equivalents who embraced him and framed his picture in their stations.

He remembers a memorable Metropolitan Police Awards night "They were more than OK with me... One other police force told me: 'We've put your portrait above the Queen's in the station."

"But it was a very different time then. A lot of the older police officers said they'd had DCIs like my distant mother in law's ex, sometimes worse." Gene Hunt was nearly tearful and emotional as the 2018 incident involving Elaine Downing leaving the grandchildren and plus her now 14 year old bratty daughter made the Manc Lion feel helpless, he is starting to look out of his depth with the historical underage usage of Social Media by his two nieces and safeguarding cases against his distant relatives.

PCSO Sharon Grainger realises Elaine's signs of PTSD and unhealthy obsessions; in the file it shows she was first admitted to psychiatric care in 1995 after unstable behaviour pulling a knife on a toddler, Gene was only 24 years old at the time but it had fractured what little relationship he had with his distant mother in law Elaine Downing as his Mum was so ashamed of her sister in law being admitted to a mental health NHS trust at the time.

"In 1995 you were first admitted to psychiatric care under Section 9 and 12 of the 1983 Mental Health Act after pulling a knife on someone's toddler and diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after doctors logged your unhealthy obsessions, Mrs Downing as the record is in your file." said PCSO Sharon Grainger wearing her Metropolitan Police uniform after stating her rank, the time, date and people present during the interview into the cassette recorder.

"So? I pulled a knife on someone's toddler for throwing a tantrum and they called to get me sectioned; so what if years later in 2018, I did left Gene Jasmine and my then pregnant eldest daughter Millie alone to single handedly look after my younger lively 13 year old and grandchildren?" replied Elaine Downing aged 66 to 73 years old starting to look frail, with her former blonde hair completely white wearing a V-neck jumper in maroon sporting an expensive designer handbag and wrinkles on every part of her face. "I was in America during the school August summer holidays."

"My boss's mum was so ashamed of your mental health admission; it fractured what little relationship he had with you, Mrs Downing." explained the 26 year old Police Community Support Officer "And yet you still use the childish version of his nickname, which our Guv hasn't been called by since he was ten in 1981!" Elaine Downing's shady past was catching up with DCI Gene Hunt's distant mother in law.

"Oh, Eugene's always has been a bit of a mummy's boy." The elderly ex Cresent Moon dating agency founder replied in a snobby tone putting down the Gene Genie as usual "I wanted to see my relatives in America before they got too old, so the joke's on him love." The Guv comes in to help his youngest officer out ensuring Elaine cannot spread her usual venom to her, as the previous investigations into his distant mother in law were before Sharon's time.

"You left me and your eldest Millie pregnant at 16 with her third kid to look after a tricky 13 year old little girl along with your grandsprogs for the whole of August!" yelled DCI Gene Hunt clearly pissed off with his 66-73 year old distant mother in law "in the school summer holidays, while you were jetting off to fucking United States of America to see your crap relatives I only have vague memories of!"

"Oh, shut up Jasmine!" screeched Elaine in her aged Richmond London accent using both names Gene doesn't like "You've haven't grown out of being a moody teenager, Eugene." doing her bright lipgloss during the interview "Go and pick some of your acne spots in the mirror!"

"She's demanded I send £20,000 dollars to her in America on summer camps to take Charlotte and your messed up grandchildren to be with random American children they don't even know; when I rang you on my mobile to tell you I had enough, I'm not wasting my policing wages to enable your shit, mother in law dearest and there's a reason you're distant!" Gene stood up to his now elderly distant mother in law Elaine facing his years worth of fears."So I'm always indebted to my role as a copper. But it has taken a lot longer than I thought to shake off people's perceptions of me because of your irresponsible behaviour in the family, Elaine and I sometimes just feel like a berk!" the larger than life Detective Chief Inspector is stressed from balancing the latest investigation into his decrepit distant mother in law.

Gene has been working in safeguarding (police) and seen so many online offences where a child has had a profile (perhaps for playing games as mentioned above) and a paedophile has contacted them this way, starkly similar to his two nieces from 2010 when Millie was 8 and Charlotte was turning 5 at the time.

"Turns out on the profiles Millie said her date of birth is 10 years earlier than it really is (presumably so that she could create an account, making her 1992 instead)." said DI Alex Drake with the FaceBook activity dated somewhere in 2010 as she was so surprised; went and clicked on it as being one of Gene's beloved female colleagues was shocked that a 8 year old at the time would have a profile and wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything massively dodgy, there is as she looks into Millie Hunt's social media. She then reported it to the old primary school Millie Hunt once attended, which is very hot at the moment on e-safety issues with the Year 3-4 classes in particular on the grounds of underage social media safeguarding investigations.

Alex raises the issue with the ageing ex Cresent Moon director as it's very serious indeed and there is history of unnecessary nastiness and unwarranted vitriol a bit like in family vigilantism. "Ah! Now your elder daughter's former school have seen it, they are obliged _by law_ to report it. If there's anymore incidents, you can be prosecuted, Mrs Downing." explained DI Alex Drake on the other side of the interview room, as Elaine's lawyer is sat there writing his notes into a ledger.

"Whatever, you stick insect privately educated tart!" ranted Elaine Downing "I'm too old to care that most of the stuff on FaceBook was totally inappropriate for my then 8 year old to see." The primary school, DI Drake made enquires with about their ex pupil Millie Hunt; have outside speakers - police etc - coming in once a year at least to talk to everyone about online risks, and have it as an assembly topic regularly.

"I warn you, cooperate with the interview or you can be returned to Custody, mother in law." said DCI Gene Hunt firmly standing to his full height, oh yes, he gets certain issues with underage usage of Social Media regularly. Most parents are completely unaware of what their child is doing online. "Due to your history of diagnosed PTSD, unhealthy obsessions, chain smoking and alcohol abuse; it is quite obvious you were unfit to be the main carer to two young children at the time. You left it far too late to be having children, what date of birth were you actually born on?" Elaine refuses to answer the question and is more interested in fiddling with her hairstyle.

"No comment." said Elaine Downing icily. She is far too old to understand about parenting in the 21st Century climate and it may turn out for Gene that his distant but now elderly mother in law is to be finally diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/Autism; plus a borderline personality disorder due to the unhealthy obsessions, history of PTSD, is a chain smoker and alcohol abuse along with her past mental health admission and banned from unsupervised contact with under 18s.

"Does it bother you that you've been condoning your children lying about his/her age online for years?" replied PCSO Sharon Grainger fuming "but its your fault for letting such young children use social media in the first place, Elaine Downing!" she adjourns the interview by turning off the cassette recorder before she gets too angry about the whole situation involving the Guv's now elderly distant mother in law. She can imagine Gene's mum being not happy about her estranged sister in law.

DCI Hunt has been trained in ICT, coding, programming etc AND e-safety sessions because computers came with more dangers than when he was a child. He comes down hard on the parents of these children who are on Social Media below the recommended age.

Alex needed to report this in some form because it is her professional responsibility to do so - it is slightly different from being a member of the general public, but police officers, teachers (like social workers etc) have legal responsibilities to report such apparently 'minor' things that can be used to build up the whole picture around a child. There are, sadly, all too many cases of children where each adult who had contact with a child had a tiny jigsaw piece, but the whole picture was only seen after something horrible had happened. Providing the tiny pieces is a legal obligation to professionals so that more pictures can be seen earlier, and thus tragedies avoided. Then the CID ring parents over online bullying etc and get 'oh no. She's not _allowed_ Facebook!' - whilst looking at a screen grab of the appalling vitriol their child has been merrily deluging a classmate with and tedious posts about about Zayn Malik and Minecraft.

* * *

**Gene's mother in law also consistently lies about her actual age and birthday meaning no-one knows where it actually falls on with different theories and rumours flying around. It is one of the longest chapters for a BBC Ashes to Ashes fanfic as it has some of Gene's Metropolitan Police CID officers interviewing Elaine Downing as the Guv's distant mother in law and former director of the Cresent Moon Dating Agency back in the 1980s.**


	12. Multiple Proxys Munchausens by Internet

_Chapter #12: Multiple Proxys Munchausens_ _by Internet._

**DCI Gene Hunt is observing his younger niece Charlotte's behaviour as she may have unidentified issues meaning she acts like a much younger child and the different accents is not the normal performing arts training, there is something else behind it. He later discovers what his distant mother in law Elaine Downing has been exposing the 14 year old girl to with potential ****echolalia playing on his mind.**

* * *

John Hunt (Gene's father's younger uncle) was a jobbing director of the Seventies and Eighties - Gene, Stu and Robert were forced to stay at home – clearly on grounds of age appropiate suitability, but all three boys were allowed on location of another classic costume drama - The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) - which was filming near Canterbury. "I remember seeing Keith Michell on a horse in all his regalia on a scorching hot day in July and they were filming a wild boar hunt scene. I remember looking at him thinking, 'Henry VIII must be boiling…' That was quite surreal." Years later, Gene's uncle told him that he had to interview glamour models to be the extras and Elaine Downing at the time was one of them as she was a Butlins redcoat at the time in the job for nearly a year from 1969. "Oh absolutely fine,' she said, 'but I'm sorry I've got to dash, I've got a 4:30 at Butlins, in Clacton, Essex my hometown." The family links all make sense to the Gene Genie, even though he was only a baby at the time for this memory but so vivid for him.

"Charlotte is very good at accents, was behaving okayish and we were in a Costa around the Richmond area and I said to her, 'let's play at being American people for today…' she was beginning to swear, throw tantrums and called a random woman her Mummy in an American accent." observed DCI Gene Hunt talking to his colleagues at CID about his younger niece "and then Charlotte shouted: 'Mommy! Mommy! The cookies are over here, dammit!" the 14 year old girl was quite tiny against her uncle DCI Gene Hunt as she was pulling at his jacket for attention as he was putting in an order at.

"What else happened in the local Costa, you took your younger niece Charlotte to, Guv?" asked DC Chris Skelton who usually enjoyed doing forensics with senior Detective Inspector Sam Tyler as this was his favourite part of policing.

"This woman looked round in horror and I said, 'excuse me ma'am, she's been badly parented by my now elderly mother in law, in case you're shocked; I'm looking to get her assessed for potential learning disabilities due to the fact she constantly speaks in accents and behaves like a much younger child."

"Oh, your poor younger niece and err this is because Elaine as her mother never sought help while Charlotte was still young enough, Guv?" said PCSO Sharon Grainger wondering at how a 14 year old girl could be messed up and unsure of the dynamics around the Downing side of their Guv's family. Gene always knew only time would tell and Charlotte has ended up screwed by having a selfish older mum due to Elaine Downing leaving children so late in her life. It is possibly linked to her having such late menopause babies respectively in 2002 and 2005. "don't let it stop you taking your baby niece out – she needs to learn how to behave in different situations, and most people are pretty understanding, especially as she's not like a typical 14 - 15 year old."

"In a nutshell, Shaz yeah." DCI Gene Hunt replied in his office answering e-mails and the landline phone, he was looking extra handsome in a pink collar shirt, black suit, light blue jeans and his black leather shoes. "This is _exactly why_ I wouldn't want to have children any later than 35 if I was a woman." He notices his distant mother in law has been claiming to be an anorexia surviver and constantly bullied on Social Media. None of this is true. It all started within within 5 years of having the girls making the earliest posts dated 2007 - 2010 chronologically.

Elaine Downing is known for being very nasty – hypercritical, snobbish, spiteful, childish and self-pitying. The MO is the 67-73 year old woman goes online and talks about how she is 'bullied' by her family, and that it's going to make her kill herself. Then she proceeds to jump on all of her accounts and send multiple threatening messages, even making new accounts to get around bans. Some of her content contains horrific rape references which is too graphic to be shown on the timeline windows, interactive white boards and flipcharts but are still used as evidence. Around her way in Richmond, you can absolutely guarantee that any fresh young lovely-looking 25-year-old in the park with a child is the nanny unfortunately. "What I'm finding is that lots of mums are now older, lots of women having first babies at 40." answered Detective Inspector Alex Drake who was feeling ten times more gorgeous than usual today. "it's much more common in and around London."

"In 2018, once the younger niece and her grandchildren went back to nursery/school in September; I told Elaine to never contact me again and blocked whatever I knew she had." DCI Gene Hunt recalled to the main hub of CID to his team paying attention. "She's taken to posting pictures of my cousins on her social media accounts with their full names, making up stories that her eldest Millie is abusing them and that she takes care of them. She has not seen them for years, since Jason Grant Hunt was born in 2014; because I didn't want Elaine influencing them that way." Due to Elaine's history around alcohol, chain smoking, has been sectioned for her PTSD and unhealthy obessions under the Mental Health Act 1983 sections 9 and 12; the Guv's distant mother in law has had oestrogen decline early and looked about 70 overnight.

"But now my distant mother in law's followers have started trying to find ways to contact and harass me as well, because of this, so can you get Cybercrime on it?" yelled the Gene Genie storming back into the main hub of London Metropolitan Police's CID, IT network and computer pens.

"Yes, Guv!" a chorus of CID police officers chimed around their desks with their shiny laptops opened, ready to chase up some more leads and work any other connections.

"I think this warrants speaking to the Cybercrime unit upstairs as she is pretty much stalking and harrassing you. And putting the children of your family members at risk." replied DS Dean Carling sporting his perm and brown leather jacket; one of the Cybercrime officers had a very similar issue with his sister who has made up an entire fantasy life on social media where she is a terrible victim and she loves drama. Gene wasn't the only police officer dealing with family members as part of investigations. He has screenshot everything on his correspondence with his now elderly but distant mother in law, Mrs. Downing.

"It is really weird behaviour, Guv has your distant mother in law had any involvement with mental health services?" questioned DS Annie Cartwright Tyler who was happily married to senior DI Sam Tyler is one of the officers who moved to London direct from Greater Manchester Police, Salford and knew the Guv since he was a boy. She has kept her old maiden name and made it double barreled since dating Sam Tyler after DI Maya Roy didn't want to continue with the relationship, he wanted a clean break and sold the converted flat that was once the old Cresta Textiles factory.

"Yes, on and off since 1995 when her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with the unhealthy obsessions came to a head. I know Elaine can be prosecuted for this." Gene continued with the statement "She is inviting strangers into the family and the lives of my child relatives; they could turn up at the door or police station and attack me. Be aware: some of her followers will probably contact Social Services." The Manc Lion is beginning to get annoyed at the latest development "It's got to the point where random people are trying to find out the children's addresses and who their parents are." DCI Hunt was feeling pissed off with the whole thing.

Gene's team are starting risk assessments, seeking independent legal advice on their Guv's behalf and help him find civil safeguards he can take out against Elaine Downing as his distant mother in law; even though the Gene Genie works for the police force himself. He has looked out for them, now it's their turn in CID to help the Guv out as mates both inside and out of CID.

His mum Denise Louise Hunt has an adult conversation and a heart to heart with her son Gene in private when he makes a visit back to Manchester for his Sunday roast dinner "Your distant mother in law Elaine Downing sounds deranged. I am so sorry you are having to put up with this from my sister in law son... honestly if I knew years ago she clearly got some sort of Mental Health problems to be acting in such an extreme manner... I wouldn't have allowed her to damage the family like this..." the gorgeous seventy year old woman sobs into his shoulders; she was like a female version of her police officer son, but born in the 1940s with a 5 ft 1 frame "Blimey, what kind of fucked up woman lies about such things?! I knew it when you asked Elaine about her actual age and date of birth, during one of your recorded interviews, Genie son. I knew the old bag has been having problems sorting fantasy from reality for years..."

"Mum, block your sister in law on all media; word of advice: if you are on social media and upload photos of child relatives, I'd stop for now as she's getting pictures from somewhere." reassured DCI Gene Hunt who knew the latest investigation into his Mum's distant sister in law was worrying the elder woman, he has seen his mum worn down from Elaine Downing over the years ever since he was born "Make evidence of all her accounts and any evidence of followers trying to trace you."

"My sister in law Elaine sounds like she's living in a fantasy world, Eugene which is massively intruding on her real life, and she's now dragging the young relatives into it!" said Denise Hunt furious about the slight potential increased risk to the children, defamation of character and the fact some of Gene's mum's relatives are only primary school aged, she doesn't feel like showing off her French speaking skills due to the decades of fake dramas from the once platinum blonde bombshell who was involved with two London Metropolitan Police Flying Squad officers in the 1970s and 1980s.

When Gene drives back down south to London from Manchester, he documents everything on an overtime shift to collect more evidence with dates, times and printing out her texts plus posts/content to certain family members as it could be Elaine Downing sounds seriously mentally unwell; it could be putting the Gene Genie's family at risk with the lies and the pictures especially as some are young or vulnerable, Elaine putting up racist remarks on pictures/posts is the mental health care professionals working with his distant mother in law should take very seriously!

Elaine Downing has had a long history with mental health services dating from the mid 1990s; is too old to be bringing up children in this day and age which is the main reason the now 67-73 year old woman allowed her then two young children Social Media underage being lax with Information Technology security thanks to the massive generational gap and serious historical safeguarding implications involved. It was way before his elder niece Millie become a teenager and it's true – they change.

Gene Hunt admits he can't stop cuddling fourteen year old Charlotte, as one of his ways of trying to repair the damage his younger niece has been through with her elderly mother. His mullet was looking a bit shaggy from Charlotte playing with his hair as she was being cuddled. Even though he's only her distant uncle, the Gene Genie understands this overwhelming feeling of responsibility, of love towards the damaged 14 year old girl with learning disabilities caused by her messed up upbringing and due to her chequered past with having an elderly mother who clearly didn't give two shits on how parenting worked in the modern 21st Century generation. This is when he is cuddling, cradling Charlotte and can smell her hair. Gene Hunt loves that routine of sometimes getting in from the police station at 5:00 pm, just caring for Charlotte ensuring for the first time in her entire 14 years, she is properly looked after.

Another memory of his distant mother in law comes to the foreground during the next day in CID. It took place in 2010 when he bumped into his mother in law Elaine Downing's first lover at a Metropolitan Police Crime Awards Night; he was visually based on Dennis Waterman, was a Detective Sargeant in the 1970s and 1980s but still thinks he's a no nonsense maverick copper; even though he's meant to be retirement age.

"She chain-smokes a whole pack of Camel cigarettes." DCI Gene Hunt remembered with a shudder "Millie had been badgering me at a family wedding because she wanted to be a princess." He suddenly thought, "Jesus, George Carter was looking old from the years of boozing, chain smoking and police corruption in his day." He knew Elaine Downing had wanted to start a family as her first lover was still very young, when his now elderly mother in law wanted to pop the question; this took place when Gene Hunt was still a young child.

Gene learnt to talk tough, during his days at the local comprehensive school in 1982-1987, close to his parents' home in Salford, Manchester which prepared him for his career in both Greater Manchester Police and London Metropolitan Police.

"It meant quite a lot that, even though I was so lowly being a Police Constable, they didn't regard me as just a little s**t. It was more the people I got to meet through working in Greater Manchester Police even in those early days of my career." but home for a young Gene Genie wasn't at all like the Hampstead set. His old man was away quite a lot because of his job in Greater Manchester Police. Gene remembers he'd come home, the telly would be on and he'd sit down and work on his cases on a big wooden table he'd prop on the chair, sipping a beer and smoke his cigarette. "I had neighbours who did a lot of LSD, which I never got involved in. Anything hallucinatory was an absolute no-no, because you're no longer in control. But I saw peers go over the top. Somebody I was at school with, and another person I used to go to the pub with in Salford or Pinner, both died – one from a drugs overdose." It was then Gene worked his way through the ranks being taught things by his superiors in ways he thought he never would since his early days in the force.

"Oh my word, it's a wonder you managed to become a DCI witnessing all those overdoses in your teenage years." replied DI Alex Drake who was only one of a few select people who knew about Gene's childhood with his relatives including Elaine Downing in the 1970s - 1980s; as he mostly didn't want the mess involving his distant mother in law to destroy CID, she tried to way back in the 1980s but this was way before Gene's time in the police force around Fenchurch East.

Charlotte Hunt has been very unkind to her elder 18 year old sister, keeps kicking over her own toys when in a frustrated rage, hitting Millie and Gene and then just laughing, time out doesn't work and she doesnt get being told off. The 14 year old spoke at a toddler level for a few years and is now considered to have the developmental age of 6 after Gene's General Practitioner made referrals regarding his younger niece's childhood with her elderly mother, gathered the tiny pieces of a jigsaw as this has caused problems since she was 7 or 8 years old in the Juniors where teachers expect key stage 2 behaviour and they will be mixing more with older children - who will soon let them know that In The Night Garden isn't cool!

"Charlotte is much better but still awful. If I need to stand and talk to someone, pay in a shop, whatever, she is incapable of just standing quietly next to me. She gets totally giddy and silly and behaves like a much younger child." DCI Gene Hunt replied to update his most trusted colleagues and friends about his 14 year old niece Charlotte "doesn't sit quietly in the car and bolts on the road." Gene has worked very hard on being authoritative and giving very meaningful stares when she crosses the line. The Guv also used 1-2-3 Magic and it really does work for his younger niece: as the book promises, he only gets to 1 or 2 now, then stops running next to the road or whatever.

Charlotte's learning disabilities was completely missed by health visitors, teachers, doctors, everyone. It was only his own niggling doubts which led the sexy DCI to seek a diagnosis, just a few months ago. It was assumed that as Charlotte was Gene's distant mother in law's last ever baby as an now elderly lady of 67-73 years old, this was about not being able to share her mother's attention and from what Gene's mum Denise knows was Elaine should have had children of her own years ago, but she never got round to it; hence having the two girls in 2002 and 2005 respectively later in life with her much younger husband.

"Your relatives are not supportive, they are controlling and it sounds as though your mother in law damaged your 14 year old niece Charlotte to the level she is now considered to have learning disabilities brought on through her messed up upbringing with a woman old enough to be your own mum, Guv." said senior Detective Inspector Sam Tyler as the Guv's best friend and right hand man "Charlotte will now forever be like a 6 year old, thanks to Elaine Downing having children extremely late." Sam traced the several phone messages left by the Guv's distant relatives on his mother in law's side of the family and has written the context down to be displayed on the whiteboard and informed Digital Forensics about these messages.

"It's not the Guv's fault Charlotte and Millie grew up around 'emotionally manipulative' people on his parents in law's side who are highly likely to express their anger." said PCSO Sharon Grainger who only just learned about more on what DCI Gene Hunt's distant mother in law Elaine Downing is capable of doing, there was even incidents where she was using other people's children to live out some sort of "family" fantasy in her younger years, when she was married to ex DCI Alan Burnside in the mid 1970s up to her divorce with him.

"The Guv's experiences with his now teenage nieces is enough to make any reasonable person think that his mother in law's lot are not fit to be in charge of children." DS Dean Carling angered about the whole case, seething inside "I suspect because she's a lot older and Guv has this dating back to his childhood; because he doesn't feel he has enough confidence to stand up to her on his own, like the other investigations into Elaine Downing, alarm bells are going off." The Detective Sargeant of his was a quick, fiesty thinker noting the seriously weird and creepy behaviour of hers. The CID team have been careful to keep a record of her and Gene's phone calls, texts and e-mails as evidence.

"If kids disagree with their mums, it should be because of things like not being able to watch _X Factor_ or having a different bedtime; not rubbish like this social media business and mental health issues." agreed DI Alex Drake who was writing down Elaine Downing's MO with his now teenage nieces from over the years starting from 2002 for Millie and 2005 for Charlotte working their way through the list on both computers and the main white boards, both normal and interactive versions.

_Alcohol_

_Drink driving_  
_Freedom to go to the shops that the nieces Millie and Charlotte (when were younger in primary) have not been phased into_

_Underage usage of Social Media with various accounts set up_

_Not changing a poor child's clothing/nappies or attempting to potty train_

_Irresponsible about what children are capable of at certain ages_

_Mental health issues where Elaine Downing has exposed young children to safeguarding issues_

_Charlotte doesn't use toilets in unfamiliar environments especially if uncle Gene or her gran is not there to help out and support -_ _least of all a vulnerable child being allowed to mess herself._

_Subjecting her only two daughters and grandchildren to serious psychological abuse._

Gene finds out through shock horror there is someone in the loop who surprisingly began as his mother in law Elaine's therapist decades ago - an experienced school teacher by profession since the late 1980s and last night on the phone was seriously irritated by the investigation, when he teaches even younger children every day.

He is from the era of 70's hippy therapy stuff, but remembers her as a client "Elaine has been referred to me years ago on the grounds she has a misguided and controlling personality. I noted over my sessions conducted, she would get quite overly emotional and melodramatic. I don't mean to over-psychologise it, but I knew given time Elaine would end up diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with obsessive tendencies; but when I started my therapy career, it was the 70s and everyone had a mad idea, but there wasn't the diagnostics to deal with problems like your mother in law has." Thankfully Douglas Molloy helps DCI Gene Hunt and London Metropolitan Police CID with his insight.

Elaine is well known for stepping over professional childcare boundaries - she comes from an era of therapy when people did this all the time and this is how she is with her two late in life daughters Millie Louise Hunt and Charlotte Hunt even though they're nearly 18 and 15 years old. Gene knows his distant mother in law is old now and wouldn't want to take any steps to cause her harm; but still needs to protect his very young cousins and Charlotte from Elaine's serious psychological abuse.

To find this out would need some very sensitive probing as Charlotte often finds it very hard to tell when all of this has happened. She doesn't tend to play properly with peers still playing 'alongside' other children, rather than 'with' them in parellel.

* * *

**This is the dark side of Elaine Downing when DCI Hunt finds out what she has been exposing her younger 14 year old daughter to when he notices his little niece's echolalia and different accents isn't for performing arts, there was something behind it after all. It revealed more of his distant mother in law when her old therapist from years ago has been a professional teacher since the late 1980s.**


	13. Learning to Love the Broken Heart

_Chapter #13: Learning to Love the Broken Heart_

**The woodwork about how Elaine Downing managed to marry a much younger man closer to her distant young son in law's age has reared it's ugly head as some of Gene's colleagues knew Millie Hunt was a rather messed up and spoilt child back in the day implying the wedding for his distant mother in law took place in 2006-2008 in a small registry office with close family and colleagues. There is no photographs since this was a deliberate move by Gene Hunt as there's just some things he wouldn't want to give to the media about his now elderly distant mother in law's troubled family despite the years of grief and CID investigations caused on her side going back to when the Guv was a baby.**

**Elsewhere DCI Gene Hunt is interviewed by the Met's media representatives about the case, his first time as a Police Constable, speaks about love, a broken heart and about Elaine Downing's shaming of his family in a fashionable London hotel; being his lively chatty self talking 19 to the dozen self to them as they want a good conclusion on the case.**

**Can he protect his 14 year old niece Charlotte from her ageing mother? Will this be enough evidence sent to the CPS to finally get his distant mother in law arrested after decades and years of cases against her being inconclusive even though she is now elderly?**

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Apparently Millie pestered them to get married when she was about 4-6 years old, he was closer to DCI Gene Hunt's age and Elaine Downing was not dissimilar from Gene's parents in terms of her age gap. Gene always knew Elaine Downing always gave into his now teenage nieces, never learning the word 'no' and it had come to a nasty head as soon as Millie turned 13 years old in 2015.

"I didn't know that Millie had pestered her biological father to get married." DI Alex Drake replied shocked by the newest development in the case against Elaine Downing; first the historical underage social media usage by his now teenage nieces, Elaine's past and present mental health incidents with a hospital admittance in 1995 under the Mental Health Act 1983 on Sections 9 and 12, the incidents of neglectful parenting and the saga surrounding Gene's very young cousins. There were thick files on Elaine Downing dating back to 1971 when Gene Hunt was first born; almost 50 years worth of records on his distant mother in law with the first three years transferred from Clacton on Sea near Jaywick in Essex beginning with being a Butlins redcoat; but the data is also kept electronically on a password sensitive basis, her stint as a police press reporter for the London Evening Standard until she was fired for having an affair between two serving CID police officers at the time 1975-1979; details on her life in 1980s Sidcup and Fenchurch East when she first ran the Cresent Moon Dating Agency until closing down the other branches in 1990; now only one in Fenchurch East remains but completely different from it's colourful past when London Metropolitan Police raided the premises in London after one of her former lovers murdered the single women and marked their hand with the shape of an imprinted black cresent moon.

For the 1980s-1990s, she went into acting on a number of BBC and ITV dramas, until retirement in 2002 and 2005 having two very late life baby girls respectively after having her much older son in 1971, same age as Gene. Then a comeback out of the blue by bumping into the retired police officer pensioner looking very like Dennis Waterman visually who was her first lover in 1970s London when she first moved down from Clacton on Sea near Jaywick, Essex.

Millie badgering her younger biological father into getting married because she wanted to be a princess. The view 10 upwards that the courts and adults really take notice of the child's wishes and opinions into consideration. But sadly now 18 year old Millie was pushed into adult decisions when she was still a toddler because the adults on her side of the Gene Genie's family allowed Millie to run rings around the grown ups and have allowed a young child's input too much like the wedding for her biological father.

"For example, you might ask a child how they felt about moving house or changing school but a child isn't able to understand all the implications; adults should take the responsibility for making decisions." said DC Chris Skelton putting his hand up to contribute towards the case "4-6 years old is far too young to be involved in decisions of this magnitude!" as the CID officers sit in the briefing to listen to their boss DCI Gene Hunt recall the memorable incidents of Millie's messed up and spoilt personality as a toddler and young child up to from 2003-2014; so nine years worth of bad behaviour.

"I'd read the princess interview as well, disgraceful!" remarked PCSO Sharon Grainger aghast at how such a young child could be given a decision only adults make "Why did your distant mother in law allow a young child's demands to carry weight in consideration?" knowing it isn't fair to ask a 4, 5 or 6 year old whether Mummy and Daddy wanted to get married; because she wants to be a princess for a day.

"My car broke down on the way and the Guv was touched by my loyality." DI Sam Tyler was very late to see his best friend's distant mother in law getting married to a much younger man than her ex husband former Detective Sergeant Alan Burnside who was in London Metropolitan Police on the Sun Hill district in the 1970s - 1990s. "I didn't want to let my childhood best friend Gene down, even though it was a small gathering of his family and relatives." he always thought of Gene like the big brother he never got to have.

"Elaine didn't really consider the rationale behind Millie's decisions, but few parents allow the child that level of autonomy!" said DS Annie Cartwright Tyler shocked at how a child who was still a toddler was allowed to make adult decisions; but Elaine at her advanced maternal age was one of those women who couldn't wait for their children to grow up, so they can do whatever, instead of having to parent them.

Elsewhere, DCI Gene Hunt is sitting opposite London Metropolitan Police media representatives in a fashionable London hotel, chatting away, 19 to the dozen; about his distant elderly mother in law, love, his first time as a Police Constable and a broken heart. "I'm sure everyone's had their heart broken," he says. "I did, but that was a long time ago. In your early 20s you think, 'This is the one. My true love'." said Gene Hunt in front of the cameras. That's the beauty of getting older for Gene after seeing how not to do things through Elaine Downing's side of his family. You learn that being in love is a very surface emotion – being in lust, as he calls it. It doesn't last.

Gene is an instinctive copper who sees things in black and white, but still remains complex and mysterious. Which is pretty much the way he likes to be at work in the Metropolitan Police CID "'It's why I'm more comfortable acting undercover or on the TV to press appeals and being interviewed about my big cases." when the interviewer for his station asks about how he met Detective Inspector Alex Drake "When we met, we'd both recently come out of relationships; she was divorced from Peter Drake and a lone parent, and we spent the whole evening chatting." The Guv will always remember Alex walking down the steps wearing an elegant dress, coordinating shoes, a beautiful hairstyle with make-up and saying, "I hope to see you again." Gene Hunt said, "Yes, that would be nice." that he invited her out to dinner. So it was more of a learning-to-love thing, then?

"Where am I going?" replied DCI Gene Hunt as the interviewer written his quotations word for word "I'd experienced my fair share of London's and Mad Manchester nightlife." Gene lived in a road that was a community, and his mum and dad's closest friends were people they'd grown up with at school. Gene Hunt left his comprehensive secondary school with four GCSE's in 1987 as the National Curriculum was newly released in Gene's secondary school days; before 'flunking out' of sixth-form college since he didn't want to go down the university route for his dream of becoming a police officer "I was a dogsbody for Greater Manchester Police CID at the time, where men in plain clothes would ask me to make the tea, do the boring paperwork that they hated; then training as a draftsboy where he was asked to update any police acts, rules and regulations given by the Government. For a while he drifed from case to case in Manchester at the time as a new Police Constable "I was kind of bored with crossing children and old ladies on the road; I thought I could make something of myself in CID." Then he applied as a CID office boy after being talent spotted by a DCI and got the job. "'I'm quite grateful, that I did it on my own." It was then his mum Denise Louise Hunt said "You could do this. You've got the talent, but you need to think about it now, Genie."

Gene is then asked about Elaine Downing as she is his distant mother in law "Metropolitan Police have been involved with my mother in law Elaine Downing since 1983 when her Cresent Moon Dating Agency in Fenchurch East was suspected to hide wife beaters and murderers activities; where a DCI Garrett was sent a severed hand by post with a cresent moon shape inprinted on it." The media representatives from Metropolitan Police ask why his distant mother in law managed to evade the police for 37 years.

"Well I was only 12 years old at the time of her first crime, so I had to wait until I was a DCI myself and the beginning of the massive jigsaw." replied DCI Gene Hunt in his sure as tone "but my Mum knew her sister in law left having the second and third children far too late in life; so it's only since having Millie and Charlotte have I've been able to build up a picture on Elaine because she allowed them on Social Media since the nieces were turning 5 and 8 years old respectively." This is one of the times Gene does use proper social media in the safeguarding cases. A woman police sergeant living next door to his parents, fortunately helps out.

"Starting to work for the Guv was exciting and was the beginning of everything I learned about being a copper. He was a hard man, so I only met him once. He showed me plans of the big undercover cases he would be given. It was a whole different world!" Gene's father never, in truth, encouraged him towards the police force profession. When he first got a taste for catching criminal collars in his early 20s; Stephen Hunt said, "'You're not going to do this for a living, are you? It'd be much for a boy your age." recalling his old man's exact words about joining the Greater Manchester Police CID. "You have your routine and suddenly that gets broken. So I go out and do my thing. I love playing golf. The phone gets switched off. It's my time. I think, 'B******s, I've earned it because I've worked my backside off in CID for six months on massive cases and collars." The interview is at an end, but there's just time to ask him if he sees himself growing old with Detective Inspector Alex Drake, whom is based on Keeley Hawes. "Yeah, obviously!" he says, a softie underneath to the last.

He returns to his silver Ford Mondeo Titanium X wearing a black jumper, a bohemian-looking leather necklace and a spiky hairstyle, getting a phone call from his little sister Emma Joanne Hunt suspecting that their mother in law has been back on alcohol during the day.

"Gene, big bro I think mum in law has been back to drinking excessively during the day." Emma replied in a worried tone after she spotted 14 year old Charlotte attempt running out of the house in her pyjamas with her elderly mother unaware and a severe hangover on the sofa.

"Alright, little sis I'm all over it!" Gene answered "I'll get to you as soon as I can, just keep Charlotte safe until I'm at the house."

"Okay, I have another question, big bro" she asks following something else spotted about her distant niece "I went on to Charlotte's Twitter page; it reads she joined April 2012; turning 7 years old, what kind of mum allows a young child social media, while still learning to write her own name and playing with others?"

"Yeah, tell me about it; I used to be made to regularly do the school run for Millie and Charlotte." Gene replied back to his little sister, he then gets another idea "Emily, why don't you ask the woman police sergeant living next door to our parents, I'll see if I can get a statement from her?"

"Okay, see you around big bro." finishing the smartphone call to her big brother the Gene Genie as she waits with Charlotte packing things up for her 14 year old niece doing it all on the quiet so the 67-73 year old woman would never know where her younger child has gone, meanwhile CID find out Elaine Downing had once met her favourite glam rock idol Alvin Stardust; when the Guv was only a toddler as it took place in 1972 or 1973.

"There are a few photos of Elaine Downing going back to the mid 1970s, even one where she's been battered about by ex DS George Carter wearing just a black bra and those black lacy knickers with half her face covered in blood." replied DS Dean Carling at his computer looking through the photos of a pre elderly Elaine Downing to establish a timeline from her 1947-1953 date of birth. In the profile it reads: _Her own mother was emotionally and physically abusive; to whom the concept of praising children was alien._ The formerly blonde woman was spending her childhood in Clacton on Sea in Essex, during it's peak years. The CID team discover unexpectedly that she has a long lost older son named Leonard "Lee" Downing whom has nothing to do with his very young sisters due to the extremely large age gap.

"Lee, the Guv's mother in law's long lost son is the same age as our boss." replied DC Chris Skelton shocked at what hidden but new information he has found on Elaine Downing's first child old enough to be his much younger sisters father "The Guv never spoke about this side of his distant mother in law for years to avoid any more conflicts on that side of his family." they print out the new information and put it up on the timeline board and give it to colleagues to whom it concerns.

And when the suede-booted DCI Gene Hunt turns up in his silver Ford Mondeo near Richmond Park in Surrey, he taps the driver's side in his usual chipper tone "Alright, little sis?" he asks looking slightly unshaven almost looking like a white van man with his long dirty brunette hair.

"No, mum in law wasn't even aware of Charlotte's leaving. And she is badly pickled on alcohol." Emma Joanne Hunt simply replied to her Detective Chief Inspector big brother wearing a black suit, skirt, make up and flat heeled shoes; the 33 year old woman is holding a small nearly 15 year old girl with Gene placing the bags and suitcases into the boot of his Ford Mondeo.

"Oh, dear god..." answered DCI Gene Hunt not surprised at the result "is mum in law back to being pickled on alcohol _again_?" he wondered about his unsympathetic mother-in-law's restarting her bad old ways. "Open up, police!" yelled Gene Hunt knocking on the door showing his warrant card, the much younger husband of Elaine Downing who is her two younger children's biological father answered the door to the Gene Genie.

"Yeah, can I just get Charlotte into your car, while you confront mum in law and arrest her?" said Emma Joanne Hunt opening the left side of the passenger door and helping Charlotte with her seat belt.

Gene was a child during the era of Capris and proper size Curly Wurlies; but had to face teacher abuse, (mental, physical and sexual) which was rife in schools in the 70's-80's (no sex offenders register and there was one or more at his school) is always belittled by his now elderly mother in law who tends to dismiss the serious issues he faces at work in London Metropolitan Police's CID as an adult.

"I'm thankful to not be part of your baby boomers generation!" yelled Gene Hunt offensively at his mother in law he is now spitting chips "You have a very selective memory; your attitude towards adolescent psychological problems is treated as if it never existed then and ridiculed now. But I think it does a disservice to the ones who found them less than halcyon days; seeing as you mixed with television stars now outed as paedophiles in your younger days!" Philip Glenister's alter ego really digs into his now elderly mother about her racy early years as a Butlins red coat and meeting her idol, the late glam rock star Alvin Stardust on and off BBC _Top of the Pops_.

"Oh, so what if I liked some of the _Top of the Pops _presenters in the 1960s and 1970s? For god sake Eugene, you weren't even born until 1971!" Elaine rasped in a harsh voice coughing badly as she taps her Camel cigarette on the rim of an ashtray and blowing the tobacco smoke into her son in law's face, who waves it away in disgust.

"You have messed my younger niece Charlotte up so much, she is now considered to have learning disabilities and will forever stay six years old developmentally." replied DCI Gene Hunt calmly "I'm not a womaniser, since your behaviour towards my friendship with DI Alex Drake was vile; I have never seen her so insulted to be called a posh privately educated stick insect."

"You should grow up because you're now her full time guardian and carer, mate." smirked Elaine Downing who thinks Gene's sex symbol status is a joke.

"I blame it on the fact I was never given a Scalextric set as a kid from you, since you were raking it in. I moaned so much about it that my mum later bought me one as a Christmas present. It was the best fun I had in years." said Gene Hunt remembering the Christmas his dear sainted mum got him his long coverted Scalextric car track set after years of asking Elaine for one but never getting it under the tree "I thought I was the coolest DCI in the cop shop when I told some of my colleagues about the present I got from mum."

DCI Gene Hunt knew that his relationship with his elderly mother in law has not changed since he was 12 years old in 1983 when she was being investigated for covering up domestic violence and murders from her men whom helped the now 67-73 year old run Cresent Moon Dating Agency in the Fenchurch East area back in the day.

"You still listen to those god awful heavy metal or rock music bands, Joe Satriani, thrash guitar, Stone Roses, New Order and David fucking Bowie!" she shouts until her much younger husband finds out what all the commotion is about from the brother in law interviewing and arresting his much older wife in the lounge room which smelled like a pub ashtray with decades of yellowing on the walls, empty alcohol and fizzy pop bottles scattered around the dated blue 1980s kitchen with a Kenwood Sodastream appliance still being in use.

He takes no-nonsense with his much older wife "I knew you were dodgy from the start Elaine especially as my marriage to you was orchestrated by a four to six year old toddler wanting to be a princess for the day; used my biological daughters as a sick bargaining chip and then ruined their childhood; how does it feel for my girls to have a woman old enough to be Daddy's own mummy?!" the actor closer to DCI Gene Hunt's age fumed in anger and nearly breaking his own heart wearing a blue shirt and faded jeans. He is a refined and well spoken version of DCI Gene Hunt but works as an actor. His name was Philip Haywood Hunt who enjoyed overnight success on a police science fiction drama for five years, being active in the acting profession since his twenties in 1991.

"Elaine Downing, you are under arrest for being drunk in charge of a vulnerable young person, historical domestic violence, social media misuse by allowing a child under the age of 13 accounts." Gene said firmly placing the handcuffs on to the 67-73 year old woman "You do not have to say anything, but which may be given in evidence if you later rely on it; you have the right to remain silent." and is taken to the waiting Vauxhall Astra battenberg car with two officers from Uniform.

DCI Gene Hunt's best excuses for relatives he hates spending time with are when people from his distant mother in law's side approach him in Waitrose and ask, where do I know you from? Gene simply replies I shop in here a lot, another howler being "You're not on the telly then?" replying "No, you're thinking of my brother in law, Philip Hunt." Luckily, Emily Joanne Hunt drives her younger niece back to hers for the time being because the case is still active.

Gene walks back to his Ford Mondeo watching his brother in law lose control as Philip Hunt's much older wife is driven back to the Metropolitan Police Fenchurch East police station.

"You're a wanker, Elaine!" screamed Philip Hunt feeling furious "It puts a strain on good men who are having to hold their careers to look after children that people like you are too old for!" Gene puts a friendly gentle hand on his shoulder as he'll be helping to give his statement against Elaine Downing: this could be the case that finally gets his elderly wife arrested after 37 years of her crimes being turned a blind eye to. It was only when Gene Hunt became a Detective Chief Inspector himself that Elaine's murky past would catch up with her.

Elaine Downing was processed through to Custody by desk sergeant Viv typing in her details on the suite's computer with CCTV overlooking the wing and cells; she will be in cell three until DCI Gene Hunt and his CID team are ready to interview his distant mother in law.

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**Philip Haywood Hunt is my idea of a more refined, well spoken and posh version of DCI Gene Hunt with a slight difference; he is an actor since the man has been active in this business since 1991. **


	14. Secret Life

Chapter_ #14: Secret Life_

**DCI Gene Hunt and his CID team find out about his distant mother in law's secrets, these could be the key behind Elaine's decades of mental health issues. He hasn't talked about this side of Elaine Downing before to spare his gran in law's feelings.**

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During the recorded interview after Gene and Alex say their names, ranks, the date and time on cassette tape; Elaine admits "My mother spent her whole time screaming at us and hated the way I looked when I was young." Gene hasn't talked about this before but Elaine Downing's own mother is aged between 86-96 years old with dementia now in a nursing home somewhere in London; but Elaine's mother is busy playing the sweet old lady.

DCI Gene Hunt replied "Ohh, Elaine why didn't you tell me about this before years ago?" he sighed voice breaking to almost sound different as he couldn't quite get the words out, was this behaviour from his distant mother in law her childhood abuse playing out; since it was during an era when children weren't believed and no-one was savvy enough to spot the signs. The sad thing was this culture continued well into DCI Gene Hunt's early years of childhood in the Seventies with names like Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter to name a few paedophiles who were household names but were disgraced as presumably elderly people during the Operation Yewtree stings in October 2012 up to 2015 onwards under the tagline 'Giving Victims A Voice' Mark Alan Williams Bennett was the other Detective Chief Inspector leading this large case at the time. The allegations covered four decades, from 1950s until the 1980s, and were on "a national scale". Yewtree is always chosen from a list of names which are intended to be neutral and unrelated to each particular case. This system, dating back to the 1980s, is used for operations which are started to handle specific crimes, as opposed to more general, pro-active operations with names connected to their intent.

"Mother had this horrid, evil side. She herself said she had vitriol in her veins rather than blood. Used to whack me with anything that came to hand. She was a full-time mother and I don't think she enjoyed it. This was way before you were even born, _Eugene_..." Then, one day, a girl several years older than Elaine arrived at their home. "My mother said, this is your half-sister Elizabeth." the product of Elaine's mother's first marriage, had been abandoned by her at the age of three and was brought up by her father. "So now, with her dementia, we've got this sweet old woman for a mother, the mother I've always wanted." When Elaine was a teenager in the 1960s she recalled being given a little bit of information about her beginnings in life "I thought my father was a different man; although earlier she had said I was premature." Children made their own way to and from primary school and this was the norm. Parents only came to school on parents evenings. Corporal punishment, slipper, cane and the birch were totally acceptable ways of discipline primary school pupils then which nowadays would have the teacher arrested for assault and/or GBH. One of Cybercrime's colleagues know someone who grew up in a family of six children in the 70s. The father was extremely violent, and raped the daughters. He'd hold them down in icy cold baths for kicks. When they ran away and told police, they were dragged back home.

At 16, the eldest gave birth to her father's daughter and the baby was taken from her. No one was allowed to talk about it. Her brother went on to murder his wife. Respect and kindness for children, and professional support for families is a relatively new thing. Chris would probably cry like a toddler and Sam would talk it to death, whenever CID were dealing with historical child abuse cases or scandals.

"How did you meet your favourite glam rocker, the late Alvin Stardust?" asked DI Alex Drake showing an old black and white photo of a 20 something year old Elaine Downing standing next to Alvin Stardust in the street with her typical flicked out hairstyle, platinum blonde, flared jeans, a white cotton jacket, platform shoes and old fashioned vehicles with vintage shop fronts.

"I was chatted up by Alvin Stardust at a showbusiness event. I was especially a fan of his music but I was bowled over by his charm since I first watched him on BBC's _Top of the Pops_; then I met him again in 2011 because at 68, Alvin was still touring in his wig and platform boots until he died." Elaine has also stated that she is a "committed vegetarian", with a liking for spinach pie and Quorn placenta.

She can sometimes be nice but on other occasions she can be hyperactive and rather irritating, unintentionally coming off as a burden.

"How did you meet ex Detective Sargeant George Carter who was an active CID officer in London's Metropolitan Police around the same time you were a journalist with the London Evening Standard newspaper?" asked DI Sam Tyler who was typing the transcript into a confidential Microsoft Word document that only concerns the agencies CID are working with. Her lawyer is sat observing the recorded interview and making notes.

"In 1975, I moved from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex to Sidcup in London to become a crime journalist with the London Evening Standard newspaper and I was always asked to report on the Metropolitan Police CID's large cases that were occuring and as they became breaking news." explained Elaine Downing flicking her white hair out as DIs Sam Tyler, Alex Drake question the Guv's distant mother in law about her past since living in London. Gene's colleagues knew Elaine is an accomplished liar due to her history and abusive childhood. They've heard some amazing things from her that Gene knows aren't true, and other family members of his including her much younger husband have said the same.

"What car did your first lover then DS George Carter drive at the time?" asked DI Alex Drake who noted the now 72 year old man visually based on Dennis Waterman was working for UCOS in Metropolitan Police returned from retirement and still had a bit of the roguish copper in him.

"A blue 1974 or 1975 Ford Cortina Mk3 XL, _dear_ with blue velour interior on a L or M registration spelled backwards." answered Elaine Downing pretending to 'smoke' on a red ballpoint pen lid. She shows her young son in law's colleagues an old colour photo of George Carter's Ford Cortina Mk3 from the 1970s even though some of the devoloped colour had faded through the years.

CID have other details, as well as just Gene Hunt's hazy memories from his childhood on Elaine Downing. Having seen the records of his distant mother in law hitting psychiatric hospital as a no longer coping teen and spin round the revolving door for decades since he was born, only getting a proper diagnosis in 1995. If this was in 21st Century eyes; it would be borderline abuse today. It wasn't until the 90s that she received any professional support sadly.

"Your former therapist Douglas Molloy has been a teacher since the late 1980s, and he's told to pass on concerns such as children who are carers, sudden trauma, and self harm to the police and Social Services; or to the designated safeguarding lead at his primary school; if he isn't sure." explained DI Sam Tyler to Elaine Downing on the other side of the table with his serious demeanour and brown eyes.

"Why didn't you turn away wife beaters and murders from your Cresent Moon dating agency in Fenchurch East?" asked DC Chris Skelton who could see the Guv's distant mother in law for himself finally rather than as a series of notes, photographs and records.

"Oh, god. It was during my marriage to former DS Alan Burnside; then when he divorced me, kept going in and out of abusive relationships until one day I met this young man Philip Haywood Hunt who is an actor and produced me two beautiful little girls; Millie in 2002 and then Charlotte was my last ever baby in 2005 before I hit menopause." replied Elaine Downing "I do have a much older son Lee Downing who was born in 1971 as I had him with my then black hippie boyfriend Jeremy Littlewood at the time, but my mother and father didn't approve of me having a chocolate bun in the oven for a son."

The CID is interested to know whether professionals dealing with children referred children as regularly to Social Services in the 50s, 60s, 70s/80s as they do now. Alex suspects not. We have become massively more sensitive to issues of exploitation and abuse (of all kinds) as relates to young people.

DCI Gene Hunt offers his two pence worth about his distant mother in law's secret life and struggles with decades old mental health issues on top of the 67-73 year old woman's abusive childhood "I started policing in the early 90s, and even then would have been expected to pass on concerns." Lots must have changed in the 1980s around those issues when Gene was a teenager. It was only when Esther Rantzen started Childline in the 80s that the issues of child protection became a serious issue for society as a whole.

Obviously, being in hospital Elaine was getting support for the physical symptoms. Alex Drake has no idea how much 'support' her dad and mum gave her, although apparently the anorexia was her fault and attention seeking. It was about 4 years in 1966-1970 after this they cut her off and proclaimed that she'd never existed in the first place (all photos, documents of Elaine Downing pre late 1960s-1970s etc destroyed). It was usual to shun people with mental health issues in the 70s. She finds it horrifying, when Alex reads and listens back on Elaine's quotations when the recorded interview is adjourned and finished.

Gene just had the refresher courses about looking out for children who might be suffering abuse etc. Loads of the warning signs listed, that we're encouraged to report, he sits there at his desktop computer catching up with admin thinking "that was my distant mother in law's family."

DCI Hunt deliberately doesn't talk about this with his colleagues unless it's relevant for some reason. His eldest niece who is now the age that Elaine was when all the problems started. He has grave concerns about how grandfather in law behaves towards Millie Louise Hunt and doesn't want make her even more vulnerable since she became a teenage mum of three with Jason Grant Hunt being born in late 2014 or early 2015 when she was just 13 or 14 years old with the two younger children following the two or three year age gap because all are five and under. The start of the school year, and the annual talk about child safeguarding at his police station in Fenchurch East, has reminded Gene (again) of just how carefully he has to navigate his distant mother in law's toxic family members especially when he's asked to investigate them due to their names being flagged up into the police system time and time again.

Incidentally, Gene's parents were huge fans of Esther Rantzen. It's more than possible that he's remembering things from the 80s, and assuming that it must have been like that for all of his childhood because by the late 80s things were different.

Elaine Downing grew up in the 50s-60s in a seaside resort near Jaywick. At weekends and school holidays she would have been expected to get up, have breakfast then spend all day out and not under her mother's feet. From 5 or 6 years old. She would be out 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and come home for dinner. There was no involvment from any outside sources.

"This could be the final piece of the jigsaw piece that gets my distant mother in law proper help." explained DCI Gene Hunt who was answering e-mails, typing up overdue crime reports and chasing up phone calls "my grandparents in law were awful about her first pregnancy with her then African boyfriend Jeremy Littlewood, I remember him wearing those hippy style glasses, a white jumper with 'Jez' on it and a blue wide collared shirt. Mum had this crazy mad orange and brown wallpaper with flowers on it in the lounge and netting on the single glazed patio doors; I was only a few months old." remembering his very first Christmas memories with his distant mother in law. "Business and pleasure?" he says. "Dear oh dear, mate. My old dad used to call that the mark of a reckless man, which is what Jeremy Littlewood was." Gene continued with the earliest story of his childhood "My mum always knew where my dad'd been when he went and wandered, too," Gene said, giving her a look that was mostly sympathy. "Didn't mean she was glad he'd gone." he then recalls a neighbour "You're damn right it wouldn't. Mrs Wright always changed with her curtains open, and did half her housework in one of them French nighties when she knew our dad was home." Gene picked up the coffee cup again.

Annie Cartwright moved out of her parents in June 2000, when the gang were growing up in Manchester; PC Annie Cartwright was a good copper, and she knew it. She had her beat and a tidy flat she shared with Terri, who was a graduate student and kept hours stranger than Annie's. Later on, she was promoted by a young DCI Gene Hunt who worked hard for his position straight from a comprehensive school and applying for the Greater Manchester Police cadets with his number being 6620. "I told them DI Tyler is the best of my team," Gene said, and it was emotional for Annie to hear that name, even though he clearly meant her. "Been in CID with me, worked as hard as the rest of the team put together, all the things you could want in a DCI. Eventually they listened to me." Alex could bowl the PCs over with her vocabulary and leave Chris blinking at sentences with far more clauses than point, but Annie refused to be intimidated by anything. She'd had worse, and she had the skin to prove it; Gene Hunt and Sam Tyler were the ones who took Annie under their wings.

Gene yawned hugely in front of his slim desktop computer despite having access to latte "Goodnight, Guv." said DC Annie Cartwright to the man that practically brought her up through the ranks like a big brother as her Detective Chief Inspector. "Come on, it's getting late DC Cartwright." Annie set down her notes and opened another file on her desk and going through the electronic records. She'd been through enough, looking for patterns and priors. "I will, as soon as I finish cross-referencing." she decides to log off her computer for the night and the Gene Genie gives her a lift home in his beloved Ford Mondeo Titanium X to where she lived with DI Sam Tyler.

Gene's childhood memories of Greater Manchester Police's 'A' Divison was Cortina-driving, chain-smoking, alcoholic bastards who were thankfully retired from policing "We had a constable who was a right sex fiend, before your time, DC Cartwright. Spent half his days tossing off in the loo when he couldn't find a bird connected to his case to look after his stiffie." said DCI Hunt shuddering at the memory of the dark side of his early days in Greater Manchester Police as a mere teenage Police Constable when officers like he saw as a child were still common place. He knew from a very young age that was not how to do policing and was thankful for the modern 21st Century standards and regulations that held his profession to account.

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**This chapter presents a vulnerable side to the Gene Genie's distant mother in law Elaine Downing as her years of secrets from childhood were revealed in the recorded interview and why Elaine's mother is now in a nursing home with dementia somewhere in Richmond, London. Also how DC Annie Cartwright flourished under then young DCI Gene Hunt's wings along with DI Sam Tyler in the early 2000s.**


	15. Epilogue

_Chapter #15: Epilogue_

**This is the last official chapter for BBC Ashes to Ashes fanfic "Social Media Backdoors to Crime Networks" set 37 years after the original events of Series 3, episode 2. It includes the 2000 flashback of when Sam Tyler found out Gene's brother Stu Hunt was in prison for his speed addiction and when he first met then PC Annie Cartwright as she couldn't have more than 19 or 20 years** **old.** **They also secure a good care package for DCI Gene Hunt's distant mother in law Elaine Downing after her court trial and a conclusion to the case. ** **It could be the 1973 crowd naturally aged to get there to see Gene Hunt as an adult; it is quoted when he and Annie talk about what his old Guv was like before he retired from the police force.**

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"My stomach's threatening a prison break out through my back as it is." Gene said, but there was a gentleness in his blue eyes. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, telling her stomach to settle. "Gene. What are you trying to get us to say?" DC Annie Cartwright replied to her boss as she knew since a boy even though she was eight years younger.

DCI Gene Hunt shrugged his shoulders as if it meant nothing, or as if the pain of having to deal with the latest investigation on his distant mother in law Elaine Downing was so tiring it wasn't worth admitting to. Gene held up one hand, his broad but ladylike and slender fingers spread wide. "The damn ring doesn't suit me, sweetheart. So you have it, DC Cartwright."

Annie nodded. It'd be easier to work without seeming as if they were going to the same place if everyone else had gone. "I've a few other files and crime reports that could use some work anyway, sir." replied Detective Constable Cartwright.

"Vital evidence!" Gene raised his voice to the rest of the office.

Annie kept her eyes on her computer where she was working on an abduction case, as she gave Sam a quick kiss on the cheek.

They liked it that way, and Sam enjoyed cooking while Annie studied. She was reading up for the tests she would have to take to become a sergeant, and while she was a bit fatalistic about it, Sam insisted that she was a role model now and needed to be good and ready to get promoted so she could set an example for the women of London Metropolitan Police with the idea of being another woman DCI.

**_Flashback to 2000_**

_"DC Sam Tyler isn't like the other ones, Neil." Annie smoothed out her dress and her hand lingered against her heart and she smiled a smile that was so familiar it fucking gutted him. "I want to make sure he's okay." Entirely his own fault, as well. Maybe if Neil'd paid more attention in the Tufty Club as a kid…_

_She had quivered with rage. "You think you know everything." And she'd turned and ran._  
_And in December, 2000, she had grabbed his hands across the pub table and said, "He wasn't crazy, Neil. Sam was right." She stared at Neil and never once saw him that night. He was someone who had known Sam in a way that no one else ever had and that was why he still mattered to her. But then again it had been seven years since they'd dated and Annie still wore the red dress when she came to see him. That had to mean something._

_Some ill-advised kid, hooked on speed, had been stumbling home from a rave last night and managed to overdose in the middle of the pavement behind some houses. That was the first bad thing to happen, some boy barely having hit puberty losing his life here amongst the undergrowth and dog shit, alone and high and uncared for._

_The second bad thing to happen was that a twelve-year-old girl, playing tag with her sister before school, had tripped over and fallen flat onto his body at eight o'clock this morning. Her screams had brought half the neighbourhood out, and her mother had hustled her back inside as a neighbour rang the police, but it was too late; that little girl had seen far too much already, the staring eyes and the pool of sick around his wide-open mouth, enough that she could barely talk to recount her tale to Annie as they sat together in her mum's kitchen._

_"Once he's finished having his temper tantrum, we've got parents to inform?"_

_"Oh, give him five," Annie scolded him, grabbing his arm to pull him away. "Better the Guv takes it out on a wheelie bin than a suspect, isn't it? Wasn't it his drug addict brother or something, didn't you say-"_

_"Stuart." He'd pulled the files and computer records on Stuart Hunt a while ago; it had been less than pleasant reading. Runaway at the age of fifteen, drug addict, missing, presumed dead or in prison. "Alright, where abouts do the parents live? Maybe we could walk. Might clear our heads a bit."_

_"It's not too far this way, I suppose… maybe ten minutes. Give the Guv twenty to cool down and radio him to pick us up. He'll be glad we did it, anyway, you know what he's like with crying women."_

_The thought made him smile, as he watched Gene in the driver's seat of the Ford Scorpio, downing a Sherbert Fountain out of the open window, a contemplative look on his face._

_They wouldn't notice the Scorpio artfully parked as she was, right where the latest abandoned motors went and half-covered with a sheet; no chance of it being scrapped, they'd be long gone by sunrise, but as disguises went, it was pretty near perfect._

_The divorce proceedings for Gene's mum weren't going well, in spite of Mrs Hunt trying her best for her boy's old man over the years._

_Gene jogged up, long hair dishevelled and tie askew, and hauled the suspect up, cuffing his arms behind his back with the almost effortless skill of a lifelong copper._

_And with that, Gene slapped his hand down on the suspect's shoulder, reading him the police caution, steering him back towards the police van as Sam flopped back into his seat with his seatbelt on, a grin a mile wide on his face. It was his little brother Stu who was dealing speed to the dead teenage boy who had been found dead by paramedics._

_Gene swallowed, guilt making his throat tight. "I sounded just like my dad. My whole life, I swore to myself I'd be nothing like him."_

_"You're not like your dad, Gene." said DC Sam Tyler "You had a suspect being mouthy when you were trying to get him into the police van, even the best officers have their limits." he reassured his childhood best friend in Gene's Ford Scorpio Ultima. "Your little brother Stu was drug dealing."_

"Someone like you would run a police station. You could be DCI. You could be chief forensic scientist. You're bright, Annie, I hope you know that..." She was looking at Gene with her eyes smiling, pleased. Gene carried on, his voice trailing a little, but a smile slowly appearing on his face, he was proud of his colleagues especially the female ones "Someone like my old Guv, he would stand accused in a court. Or he would probably have been killed. Police officers of this time don't really like men like him." His gaze crossed Annie's and they suddenly started laughing.

"Hello, Sam."

Leaning with his elbows against the laptop on the desk, Sam looks sideways at her and smiles. "Hello Annie."

"Guv, how was the court case on your mother in law, Elaine?" asked DI Sam Tyler walking into the main CID hub towards DCI Gene Hunt's office to get started on today's cases.

"The judge said she wasn't fit for cross examination due to her mental health issues, history of alcoholism and chain smoking." said DCI Gene Hunt feeling angry at why the original CID officers in 1983 never picked up on those and it took years until Gene was a grown up DCI. "and her age is against it too at 67-73 years old; but she'll be in a specialist woman's mental health house trained in these things."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Guv." said Sam.

"My little sister Emma Joanne Hunt has part time custody of Charlotte with me; but my younger niece will forever be like a 6 year old developmentally due to all of this, the safeguarding stuff and being given social media so young like her elder sister Millie." Gene was letting his tears drip down his face in private stood at the window of his office "The girls will never meet their much older brother Lee because he doesn't want anything to do with his mum."

"Well at least Elaine Downing is finally getting the help she should had years and years ago." said DI Alex Drake "And you and her much younger husband Philip will be able to invite her to family occasions knowing it's in place."

"Exactly, Alex Drakey." Gene Hunt quipped at the case finally being closed and securing his distant mother in law decent good quality mental health help.

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**Ahhh, all that ends well for the Gene Genie with a nice ending for his distant mother in law Elaine Downing. **


End file.
